Lost Winters
by Athena'sPride95
Summary: Legends. Ones that everyone know. And the ones that only the most dedicated, or most obsessed will know. This is one of those. Misty Thulia, a bright (pink) girl from the scorching sands of Vacuo has just moved to Mantle for her first year at Atlas Academy. Along the way she'll make some new best frienemies, and help change the future of remnant. "What's your favourite fairy tale?"
1. Prologue

**Well here it is friends. The fulfilment of a promise I made to some close friends over a year and a half ago. And the first thing I've published here NOT based on PJO and HoO! So here it is, the start our collab RWBY Fanfiction. I hope you all enjoy and, as always, please read and review. _Constructive_ feedback is always appreciated.**

 **As usual boiler plate disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its affiliated Characters, locations or content. All rights reserved by Rooster Teeth Productions and Monty Oum.**

 **Huge thank you to ShadowDuck and Freya's Knight for offering to be my proofreaders. And double huge thanks to ShadowDuck for designing the team Emblems that made up the title art for this book! (unfortunately the image uploader for this site sucks so it is rotated and the edges have been cut off)**

 **Also there seems to be something wrong with the copy and paste function at the moment. So if things get royally screwed up on publishing please have patience!**

 **Athena's wisdom to you.  
Athena'sPride95**

* * *

Prologue

Everyone loves legends right? Stories scattered through time? So many of us were raised on them, and so many of them are known to every child in every kingdom; the legend of the four maidens, the great King of Vale . . . Schnoo the friendly Ursa. They instil ideas of grand adventures, glorious battles and happy endings. But as we get older we realise that these tales of greatness are just that, tales. Stories. Fiction invented to give us hope that someone will come to chase away the monsters and bring us a brighter future. In the end we grow up and we realise that. But what people forget that every legend has to come from somewhere, under all the fantastical invention and glorious rubbish there is a nugget of truth. At the root of every legend there is a person, there are people. People who did something so fantastic that others remembered it, and cared. People talked about it and cared enough to keep it alive. They are the entertaining ones. But it's the stories that you don't hear. The unsung heroes who slip under history's radar and become nothing more than ghosts. The stories that people guard and keep secret, that have to be sought out. They are the stories you want to hear. They are the interesting ones.

There is one story in particular that only a few people in Atlas know. And most of them probably don't believe it. But I believe it, and I know it's all true. How? Because I'm in it.


	2. Chapter 1: Worst Impressions

Chapter one: Worst impressions

"This train is now approaching final stop: Atlas Academy Terminal. Atlas Academy Terminal final stop. All change please. All change." The monorail's PA system jolted me from my dream of eating birthday cake with Abe, my dad's old Alsatian. Sitting up groggily I cast my eyes around the carriage to see the other passengers, mostly new first year students at Atlas Academy just like me, gathering up their luggage and rushing for the doors. I didn't get up to follow them. No point in getting squished in the hurry to get out. I'd wait and get off after the first rush of new students had gone. So I just sat in my seat staring out the window. Not that there was a lot to see. The Atlas Academy Monorail Terminal was built onto the Academy itself, just like everything else seemed to be, and so its design was the same as the rest of the building. Lots of metal and glass, and concrete so unnaturally pale and clean that everything looked like it was built from compacted blocks of snow rather than rock. If I hadn't been raised in Vacuo, where the sun never stops shining and stays up for fifteen hours a day, I'm sure I'd have been squinting constantly. That or developing a terrible migraine.

After a few more minutes of watching the others get off I sighed and pushed myself up. My trusty brown leather jacket lay on the seat next to me and I snatched it up, slipping back into it, as I made my way to the door. I was surprised at how warm the station was as I stepped out onto the platform. A quick glance up through the sloping glass roof of the station told me that outside it was sunny but snowing lightly. It should have been at least chilly. I cast my eyes back down to the world at ground level and took in the hundred or so new students milling around on the platform. Some were chatting with friends, some looked as lost as I felt. Some were very obviously from Atlas. They had pale skin, very pale. And the vast majority had blonde hair and blue eyes, although of varying shades and intensities. Most of them wore white or blue too. I wondered for a moment if that was a cultural thing, or if the militaristic stereotype of Atlesians was actually accurate and they felt obligated to adopt a uniform outfit pattern for the sake of discipline or something.

The out of Kingdom transfers, like me, stuck out like splotches of multi-coloured paint on a white barn door. They all had wildly different styles of dress and appearance and just looked weird against the sea of white and blue. One guy in particular caught my eye as well as the eye, and disapproving sneers, of one or two of the people passing me. He wasn't especially tall, five feet eleven inches at most. He wore a black military greatcoat over a black and grey uniform I didn't entirely recognise, but I could tell it was military because of its design similar to the Atlas uniform I had seen on so many soldiers throughout the region. It wasn't his clothing that caught my eye though it was the feline ears that protruded from the top of his Raven black hair. They were very obvious, twitching and moving as he talked with a female Faunus with the same black hair as him, but she sported a fluffy black cat's tail poking out of the back of her blue dress that swished gently back and forth as she talked. I'll admit I stared at them for a second longer than would be considered natural but it was as if they suddenly sensed me because they both stopped talking and whipped their heads around to look at me. I shivered. The look of intense dislike and distrust in their matching sapphire eyes as they locked on me gave the impression that they expected me to attack them, and were daring me to do it. I had never had any problem with Faunus but I got the strange feeling that those two _wanted_ me to start something so that they had an excuse to take me apart right there on the platform with no second thoughts.  
 _ **Note to self: steer clear of Human hating Faunus at orientation**_ I thought. There were plenty of friends I could make. THEY didn't need to be two of them.

Of all the places I have ever wanted to end up Atlas wasn't high on my list. In fact on my list of immigration destinations it wouldn't have made the top fifty. So you can imagine my dismay when I wound up living here. Mum got offered a permanent job as a PA at one of the research labs here and that was that. Goodbye Vacuo. Goodbye sun, goodbye sand, goodbye childhood friends. It wasn't the first time we'd left home for mum's work. She had temped all over remnant for a while but we had always come back home to Vacuo. This new job had a minimum four year contract and I knew that meant I wouldn't be going home anytime soon. I'd been in Atlas for just about six months before the new semester was due to start, and still every time I stopped to think about all that had happened, and especially about home, I'd get a little more depressed. It seemed to have made my mum happy though. She said it was the best paid job she'd ever been offered. Plus we got an apartment in the deal that was twice the size of the place we lived in during her stint as a waitress in Vale. So I tried to smile, for her sake. I do that a lot; try to be happy for other people. It's easier than you might think. Generally if you smile and joke enough you can convince yourself and everyone else it's all fine. Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not a miserable person, and most of the time I am happy. I get that from my mum I think. I like talking to people and I like making friends and I love helping out. But there are the bad days, the days where I have to pretend to be someone else just to make it through the day.

"One side shrimp!" I remembered then that I was still blocking the door to the monorail car as, with those words and a rough shove, I was barged out of the way by another passenger. I thought for a second about telling the guy how rude he was. Then I got a look at him and just ask quickly decided to let him off. Could you blame me? The guy was six feet tall and clad in a mixture of street clothes and battle worn armour pieces. He had a tattered cloak draped around his shoulders with his personal crest embroidered on it; a wolf's head with what looked to be a scar over its right eye. Then I saw my second tail of the day. When he turned the cloak flopped aside revealing a huge grey wolf tail coming out through his trousers. He had only one red eye the other was scarred and milky white.  
"I'm not a shrimp" I muttered lamely.  
He grunted with what might have been laughter, "Still barely an Ursa snack though. With that pink hair you look like cotton candy, Grimm size."  
 _ **Douche**_ I thought. I had no problem with Faunus but this guy and the Cat Faunus who'd given me the evils earlier weren't doing much to improve their public image.  
"My name is Misty" I told him indignantly, "and I can handle myself just fine!"

He glared at me unconvinced. Then, just for a second, he took a brief sniff of the air and his eyes flashed gold.  
"You've got a smell of farm animals and earth about you. It's faint. I'd guess you haven't lived there in a long time, but I bet you've only ever had to deal with the small Grimm that attack livestock." He gave me a look that told me what he really thought. To him it was clear that I had no idea what I was doing, that I had no right to want to be a Huntress. "I bet you've never even seen an Ursa!" he remarked with something like a mocking snarl on his face. That got under my skin. This guy had clearly seen some shit, despite being barely older than me. But he didn't have any right to make assumptions about what _I'd_ seen just because _I_ didn't turn up to orientation day looking like I took a shortcut through a Beowulf den!  
"I've seen plenty!" I told him, feeling my face flush a little with anger. "I've seen Alpha Beowulfs and Giant Nevermores too!" I didn't realise it immediately but my hand had slipped toward the holster where I kept Dawn Lighter, my twin revolvers. He noticed too, his red eye falling on where my hands hovered before moving back up to my face. The tension in him eased and he chuckled. It wasn't a reassuring sound, more like a feral growl than a human laugh.  
"You've got nerve Pinky, I'll give you that. Most people take two steps away from me just for lookin' at them. Names Ash, Ash Draed."  
I looked at him sceptically, "Ash _Dread_? Really?" That couldn't be his real name.  
"No, Draed" he repeated and this time I could hear, he said it like "Dr-ay-ed".  
"So not quite so on the snout then" I joked, then winced. I'd had a friend back in Vacuo, a Dingo Faunus, and we'd make jokes like that all the time without thinking about it. This guy didn't seem the type. His eye flashed dangerously and for a second I thought I was in trouble. Then he grunted again.  
"I guess not."

At that moment a tall, thin, severe looking older woman, wearing an Atlas officer's uniform, rectangular wire-rimmed spectacles and flanked by two soldiers in body armour, stepped onto the platform and immediately began issuing orders.  
"Attention!" She barked and the whole platform fell silent, "All first year recruits will form two straight lines, male and female. Males will Follow Sergeant Heart" she gestured to the male soldier to her left. "And Females will follow Sergeant Goldman" she gestured to the female soldier on her right. "After Processing and registration you will be shown into the mess hall for a greeting speech from the new headmaster Colonel Ironwood." She glared out over the confused mass of students for a second. "MOVE!" she barked again and the assembled group scrambled to do as ordered.  
"Catch you later _Shrimp_ " Ash drawled as he sauntered off toward where the guys were assembling at the far end of the platform.

 _ **Douche**_ I thought again. I made my own way over to where the girls were assembling at the opposite end of the platform. As I walked I passed the pair of feline Faunus. The guy was embracing the girl and for a moment I wondered if they were a couple. Then I noticed again their matching black hair and sapphire eyes and I realised they could only be siblings. My theory was confirmed as I passed within earshot.  
"Alright Cerulea I have to go. Be good to mother and no torturing Professor Quill whilst I'm gone . . . it's more fun with two" my footsteps stuttered at that and I glanced back at them. His tone was so warm and affectionate and completely at odds with the cold look he'd given me earlier when he'd caught me staring. He hadn't noticed me this time though and as I stared again he and his sister did the most adorable little nose touch. I tried not to see them as two kittens in a basket together. I was so engrossed that when the station Tannoy suddenly blared out that the monorail would be departing shortly I nearly jumped out of my skin.  
"Okay brother" the sister said as she pulled back, "but I don't see why I can't come with you. We've been training together for years. You know as well as I do that I could defeat anyone here with almost no effort!" The brother smiled as he urged her back aboard the train.  
"That's true but _you_ know as well as I do that you're only fifteen."  
"As if that matters besides there's only six years difference!"  
"Oh, go on fur ball get out of here! I'll call home tonight and tell you all about it."  
"Promise?"  
"On my ears" he assured, waving goodbye as the doors slid closed. Then he began to turn away and I had to scarper down the platform to avoid getting that hateful stare again.

I had taken so long that I was now right at the back of the line. The girl ahead of me in the line didn't even glance up as I hurried over; she was far too engrossed in whatever book she was reading. That or I was hidden from view behind the massive feathered wings that protruded from her back.  
 _ **Another Faunus?**_ I thought, surprised. Racism to Faunus was a big problem in all the kingdoms back then you understand, more so than now, but Atlas was generally regarded as the worst. Civil and workplace segregation was still common and there were several active racial hate groups on the continent, not to mention the legendarily poor treatment of Faunus by corporations like the Schnee Dust Company. Generally Faunus in Atlas kept their heads down or did their best to conceal their animal features in order to avoid attention or discrimination. Not the three I'd seen so far though. They either weren't yet aware of the problems they would face or they didn't care. Though I don't think she could have hidden her wings if she'd tried. Avian Faunus were, as far as I knew, exceptionally rare and most were not capable of flight but her wings were so huge it was hard to imagine that she wasn't.

"Hi" I offered as I fell in behind her. The girl was Amazonian! Ash had been tall but this girl was even taller. Standing next to her was like standing next to one of the angel statues in the cathedral, completely overshadowed.  
"Hmm" she finally looked up from her book. She turned to face me and nearly clobbered me with one of her wings in the process. She looked confused for a second then looked down and spotted me, which made me feel even more awkward. Ash's shrimp comment had already made me self-conscious about my height. "Oh hello" she said with surprise, "you're the first person who's spoken directly to me today. My name's Olive Valerian."  
"Misty Thulia" I said, offering a hand, which she promptly shook. "And you're the nicest Faunus I've met today."  
"How many have you met?"  
"Oh, just three" I said, not really thinking that glaring counted as 'meeting'.  
"That's great. I won't be the only one then. I just graduated from Signal Academy back in Vale. They offered me a scholarship to Beacon but with all the tech and the potential combat training I opted to come here instead, so many opportunities for experimentation. Where are you from?" She said sounding exceedingly proud of herself.  
"Umm Vacuo" I replied, "but I didn't come here from another school. My mum just got a job here and I've wanted to be a Huntress since I was a little girl."  
"So you had to take the aptitude exams then?" she asked.  
"Yeah" I shuddered as I remembered the brutal exams they had subjected people who didn't have a school reference to.  
"Yeah, I didn't have to take one because of my recommendation but I got copies of some of the older papers and did them anyway just out of curiosity."  
"Curiosity?" I was astounded. Those papers had terrified me, and I was sure that I was going to die from overheating my brain by the time I had been done. I was starting to get the feeling Olive was a bit of a nerd.  
"So how well did you-?" She was cut off when the soldier at the head of the line, Sergeant Goldeen or something, barked for everyone to pipe down.

She then ordered us to follow and led the way off of the platform into the academy proper. As we walked along Olive muttered.  
"It's all very efficient but why soldiers, wouldn't senior students have been better? Or even professors?"  
"They are former students" someone else whispered from in front of Olive. "Many of them train as Huntsmen and Huntresses but then use that training to get a leg up in the army."  
"That's not right" I muttered to myself.  
"I know" agreed Olive, overhearing, "such a waste of potential!"  
"No that's not what I meant" I muttered. It just didn't seem right to me. "The point of becoming a Huntress is to help the people, not to use that training for personal gain!"  
"I think you're being a bit too idealistic there" said Olive. "I think you'll find that an awful lot of people join these academies for personal gain. I know I did." I decided not to ask her what she meant, but she had mentioned something about tech and experimentation so I got the feeling she was looking for an opportunity to work on some personal project.

Inside the academy buildings things were just as white but a lot less utilitarian. There were windows with ornate frames along the corridor; blue carpet ran up the centre of the floor and blue and white banners bearing the school emblem, along with paintings depicting various famous students, events and locations in Atlesian history were hung at intervals along the walls. I couldn't see out of the windows to my left because the line of guys was in the way but out of the right hand windows I could see straight down over a sheer drop that went down at least a hundred feet before stretching away for several miles of snow-capped forest. Beyond that lay the residential and commercial areas of Atlas and beyond that, nothing but snow and ice for at least two hundred miles until you reached Mantle. We continued to walk. The corridor turned around to the left and deposited us in a wide courtyard in front of a set of steps that led up to the dining hall, or mess hall, whatever they'd called it. At the base of the steps about twenty feet apart were two tables. Each had another person, this time in Atlas Academy uniform sitting behind it at a computer. The heads of each line had just reached them and I could see that each student was handing over a copy of their transcript for registration I began to dig around in the pockets of my jacket trying to find mine, praying that I hadn't left it in my luggage which was currently who knew where?

The lines on both sides shortened fairly quickly considering we weren't in order but it did still take nearly an hour and a half. Twenty minutes in Olive went back to reading her book which left me at the back of the line with nobody to talk to. I didn't mind too much. I was too busy taking in the scale of the place, so much grander than anywhere in Vacuo except perhaps Shade Academy. After I got bored of that I started looking over the boy's line and wondering if I would end up on a team with any of them, trying to guess from what they looked like and the weapons they were carrying what kind of person/fighter they were. I spotted Ash up near the head of the line. As I watched something happened. Ash walked up to the table, the guy behind it said something that looked dismissive and Ash became very agitated. I could hear him yelling from all the way at the back of my line though I couldn't make out what was said. Then he leapt at the man, only to be restrained by the soldier who had led them there. Everyone was watching now. We all watched as the feline Faunus and the female officer who'd met us at the platform approached the table. I was shocked to see the Faunus grab the guy at the desk by the collar and haul him aside, the officer following. He clearly said something that put the fear of Grimm in him because the man quailed and slunk back to his seat where he proceeded to process Ash's papers and allow him through into the mess hall.

I only found out later that what had happened was a very similar experience to the one I was about to witness. I'd been in line for an hour and twenty minutes by this point, and actually getting pretty sick of standing, but by then it was just me and Olive left in line. I was just watching as the register over at the male table folded up his computer and turned from his desk, only to be escorted out of sight by the sergeant when I heard the woman at our desk speak up.  
"Oh wonderful another one" I whipped around trying to see her around Olive's wings. She too was leaning around them trying to see past Olive. When she spotted me she smiled warmly before turning her eyes back on Olive. She frowned. "Step aside please, Faunus."  
"Excuse me?" Olive sounded genuinely confused.  
 _ **Poor girl**_ I thought, _**guess she really wasn't expecting it.**_  
"I said step aside please. And don't cause a fuss like that other one did. We've had enough trouble from your kind today."  
"My kind?" Olive sounded so confused and hurt, as though nobody had ever spoken to her that way, that it made my heart ache. I was starting to wonder if I wanted to attend Atlas Academy at all if all the students were so bigoted.  
"Yes, now step aside. You are holding up the line." I glanced behind me, dumbfounded. Were there another hundred invisible girls behind me I couldn't see? There was nobody else waiting but me.

"Stop pointing that at me" the woman ordered suddenly, sounding tense.  
"What, my staff?" Olive asked sounding less hurt and more offended now. "I'm not pointing it at you!" I glanced around but the female officer and the bold Faunus guy from earlier had vanished, and sergeant Goldy was making no effort to stop the woman's racist tirade. In fact I was disgusted to see that she was grinning.  
"Step aside and stop pointing that at me or I will have you incarcerated for threatening a student of this academy!" the woman at the desk went on.  
"Okay NO!" I couldn't take it anymore.  
"Excuse me miss?" the lady asked as she focused on me ducking around Olive's wing to plant my hands on her desk.  
"This is ridiculous!" I insisted, starting to flush angrily again.  
She got a self-satisfied smirk and sneered at Olive again "See what I mean? You're even annoying her now." Olive looked over at me, hurt.  
"NO. YOU are the one that's annoying me! Leave Olive alone, she has just as much right to get registered as I do!" At once her look changed from smug to disgusted and she eyed me up and down as if I had some disease.  
"Do you know this Faunus?" she demanded, in the same tone someone might ask "do you know this criminal?"  
"Only for the past couple of hours" I said, "but I can already see that she's a much better person than you are! Why are you being so mean to her?"  
She looked at me like it was the dumbest question she had ever heard and then asked "why are you defending her? She's just a Faunus, and a freaky one at that." I wondered if I had accidentally bumped into Olive's wings after all because I was about to start spitting feathers.  
"You have got to be kidding me! Why does that even matter? Register her now and stop being so mean. I guarantee she deserves to be here more than I do!"

She stared at me then rolled her eyes and turned to Olive. "Transcript!" she barked, holding out her hand. Olive produced the pristine sheet of paper from within her book and handed it to the woman who snatched it and glanced over it. I felt a little better when I saw her eyes widen as she glanced over Olives recommendation from Signal. She entered the information into her computer before practically flinging the transcript back at Olive.  
"Done. Welcome to Atlas. Be grateful. Now get out of the way!" I nearly punched her on the nose. "Transcript" she barked at me, with equal disdain. Just to show how little I cared I pulled the crumpled piece of paper out of my pocket and tossed it on the desk. She unfolded it and began updating the information I'd provided six months ago with the test scores that now had to appear on my transcript as well as any information that may have changed. I noticed her 'tsk' with disgust as she looked over my sheet. She handed it back to me without saying a word. As I walked up the steps I heard her call after us.  
"You two are great together Vale Faunus scum and uneducated Vacuo trash. You'd make great partners team garbage!"  
"Let it go" I muttered to myself as I hurried up the steps after Olive.

She was waiting for me by the door. "Welcome to Atlas huh?" I joked as we headed inside. She didn't respond at first and when I glanced over at her she had curled one of her wings around and was brushing at her feathers self-consciously. "Olive you okay? Look don't pay any attention to her she's just a racist mean girl with no real friends. Probably."  
"Yeah you're probably right" Olive agreed but she was still brushing at her wing. "I've never had anyone abuse me that openly before. I'm used to people giving me weird looks, muttering things they think I can't hear or not letting me have a seat on public transport but nobody's ever done something like that before." She looked at me searchingly, watching as I answered her next question. "Do my wings really freak you out?"  
"No way!" I told her emphatically. "I mean, they seem like they'd be a pain in the butt to have in the bath and I wouldn't want to sleep with them but they look awesome! Can you fly with them?" She looked at me cautiously, as if she wasn't sure if I was making fun of her, but when she realised I wasn't she smiled brightly.  
"Yeah, yeah I can. And I don't mean to brag but I can do it quite well too."  
"That's awesome!"  
"Thanks, Misty wasn't it?"  
"Yeah that's me. And don't worry about it. We humans aren't all as bitchy as her."

We joined the rest of the students crowded inside. Everyone had mixed together again, milling around and talking. I spotted the cat guy from earlier and Ash, on opposite sides of the room glaring at each other. I wondered what that was all about. I'd find out later of course but I'd hoped at the time that after what happened outside they would have become instant friends. Just as we walked up the lights dimmed. On the stage at the head of the room a tall man with black hair, just beginning to show a shade of grey at the edges, and another Atlas officer's uniform stepped into view. He was an imposing figure, tall and broad chested with a demeanour that spoke of confidence in his abilities and leadership. Unlike the other military staff I'd met today though he had a casual smile on his face and though he moved with military precision, hands tucked into the small of his back, he wasn't rigid but fluid. This man was born to be a soldier. When he spoke his voice carried throughout the hall issuing from speakers concealed around the room.

"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Colonel Ironwood and it is my honour and privilege to welcome you today as new students of Atlas Academy. Today is especially important as it marks not only the first step on your journey towards the noble goal of becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses but also the first step down the path to who you will become for the rest of your life. And as your new headmaster, I look forward to taking that journey with each and every one of you. I'm sure you will all join me in wishing Marshall Aslin a happy retirement." He paused to clap and an elderly man with a wild mane of white hair stood up and took a bow before returning to his seat. When the applause died down Ironwood started speaking again.  
"As students of Atlas Academy you will have access to the finest training, the most experienced tutors and the best technology Remnant has to offer. There is no finer academy in the world. While you are here your classmates will become family, comrades in arms, brothers and sisters. Your tutors will be your instructors, your guides but they will also be your family. Do not hesitate for a moment to come to us with any problems or questions. It is our job as teachers to support you as much as possible and help you become the warriors you were destined to be. But be warned, these next few years will not be easy. For some of you it will be too much. Not all of you will make it. But through diligent study, constant training, mental and physical discipline you will prevail. When you leave here in four years' time you will be the Elite. The finest, best trained and if you ask me. . ." he gave the audience a conspiratorial wink (which I only saw because of the overhead monitors enlarging his face), "best looking Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world!" He laughed and most of the audience joined in, the Atlesians mainly.

"But that is still a long way off. For tonight let's just focus on getting you settled. We'll have dinner, and after that bed rolls will be distributed. You can bunk here for the night and in the morning we start the real work." As he said the last part his demeanour shifted from jovial to serious. But just as quickly he was back to casual again. "For tonight though get some rest, relax and get to know those around you. You never know, the person standing right next to you may be your future wingman." As he turned and left the stage the whole hall broke into applause. I looked over at Olive and almost laughed.  
 _ **Wingman.**_

We ate dinner in relative quiet but by the time we were getting ready for bed Olive and I were chatting casually again. She was nice enough, a massive bookworm with a weird obsession with Dust as far as I could tell, but she had a sense of humour and was prettier than she had any right to be. She was taller than Ash, six foot two at least, though I suppose she'd have to be to support her wings. She had straight raven hair, the same colour as her plumage, which hung all the way down to her hips when she let it out and eyes so green they were like Emeralds when they caught the light. She made me feel majorly insecure about myself. So I was surprised when she told me she'd never had a boyfriend.  
"Seriously?" I asked, "Not one?"  
"I've never really looked" she insisted blushing slightly. "I tried once in high school, you know to take to dances and stuff? But most human boys didn't want anything to do with me and I think the Faunus boys found me either intimidating or too nerdy." She thought for a second, "I could have asked a girl but I never had the confidence."  
"Wow" I said, ignoring the last part "their loss."  
"What about you?" she asked as she settled atop her sleeping bag, tucking her wings firmly against her back before she folded herself into it. It was a weird thing to witness, like some sort of contortionist magic trick.  
"My mum always moves us around too much for me to think about a long term relationship. I've dated once or twice but nothing serious."  
"Boys or girls?" she asked.  
"Just boys" I said firmly.

As we both settled down to sleep I thought back on the events of the day. And although my overall impression hadn't been good so far I'd at least made a new friend. Possibly two if Ash turned out not to be a complete douche. At least Colonel Ironwood seemed like a nice guy. I hoped he was right about the other members of staff not being as severe and uptight as they appeared. I closed my eyes and tried to look forward to tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 2: Training Haze

Chapter 2: Training Haze

Honestly if I had known what I was in for on that second day I probably would have just zipped myself into my bedroll and rolled all the way back to the monorail terminal. According to my 2nd hand scroll it was five in the morning when the male sergeant from the day before, Heart I think his name was, thundered in with a megaphone in hand and began yowling at the entire mess hall to get out of their sleeping bags. I was used to being up early of course. Being the only daughter of a farming family I'd been up at dawn to help with work since I was five, but after the events of yesterday I was still fatigued emotionally. So what I saw when I rolled over was pretty effective at jolting me awake; a huge black feathered cocoon lay where Olive had carefully tucked herself into her bedroll the night before. The khaki material was still visible at the bottom and I could see the shape of her legs beneath it. But her top half was completely hidden. She gave no signs of stirring. I wondered if her feathers were thick enough to insulate her against the sergeant's continued bawling.

Sure that he would notice her any second and begin some racist tirade, but unsure of the proper etiquette for waking her, I leaned over and whispered for her to wake up. Nothing happened and I felt pretty stupid. If all the yelling hadn't woken her why would me whispering? So instead I took hold of the edge of her wing and shook it gently.  
"Olive come on" I insisted, a little louder this time, "you need to get up!" Thankfully my grip on her wing seemed to illicit a reaction. Her wings ruffled uncomfortably and the cocoon opened slightly to reveal one emerald eye glaring at me.  
"I'm awake" she grumbled, "Nobody could sleep through that racket!"  
"Then why are you still laying there?" I asked, "Do you want to get yelled at directly?"  
"Good point" she admitted. She slid her feet out of her bedroll and stood up. I had to jump backwards as she stretched, her wings unfurling to their full extent flapping once or twice before settling back into their resting position. The girl two beds down gasped and I glanced over to see her expression was something resembling awe, her eyes wide and round.  
 _ **Well at least it's not disgust**_ I thought, though I wondered how she had gone the whole night without realising she was sleeping next to a winged giant of a woman. Once everyone was up the sergeant seemed to calm down. He stopped yelling, switched his megaphone off and began walking down the rows of beds instructing people in the correct manner to repack their bedrolls. I didn't have any trouble. I'd had to use them before when my dad and I went out on long cattle drives back in Vacuo.

I noticed Olive hadn't had any trouble either. I glanced at her as she looked up from fastening her bustier over her forest green blouse. She kept her eyes focused solely on the task of dressing, pretending not to notice the sergeant was also staring from a few paces away, though not at her bedroll. The thing was under bust and laced up to just beneath her . . . well suffice it to say it made her assets even more obvious. It was these that Sergeant Heart seemed interested in. I shot him a furious glare and he turned away. Then I glanced back at Olive. This time she noticed and she seemed confused by my look for just a moment then realised the question in it.  
"Oh I watched you do it just now. Then I copied you" she told me.  
"Oh" I said flatly, returning to pulling my old, slightly dirty pink top over my head.  
 _ **Sure, why not?**_  
"I'm a fast learner" she said nonchalantly, reaching down the pick up her leather pants from where she'd folded them neatly at the end of her bed. They were brown, with crossed lacing running down the side of each leg below the waistband, but they still looked infinitely more practical than the frilly skirts and short shorts I'd spotted some of the other students wearing the morning we arrived. It was only as I was pulling my boots on, watching her lace up her own brown leather knee boots that I began to wonder how she'd dressed her top half at all with those wings. Then as she stood and turned her back to me I could see that her bustier also had a low back, dipping below the spot where here wings emerged. The top of a green button showed over the edge which told me that her blouse must have a split to fit around her wings and be buttoned up underneath. I glanced down at my faithful, faded and worn old blue jeans and decided I was a little jealous of Vale fashion. It always seemed to combine antique and modern into something that was both attractive and practical without giving thirsty teenage guys too much to gawk at. Not that I was unhappy with my own wardrobe. I'd have been uncomfortable in anything else; too 'dressed up'. But Olive's outfit was so clearly tailored specifically for her . . . _unique_ body type that I wondered where she'd gotten it. Was there specialist shops were Faunus could buy clothes for a specific body type? Or was her family rich and just had everything custom made?

The two of us were just strapping on our holsters, mine for my guns and hers . . . for what I wasn't sure as she didn't carry a gun and the staff she had carried with her yesterday seemed to have vanished, when Colonel Ironwood and several other members of the faculty reappeared on the stage.  
He stared around the room at us, that reassuring half smile from his introductory speech still visible, taking us all in for a few moments.  
"Good morning students" he began, when the chatter had died down. "Yesterday was a big day for you all, I know. But the next three days will be even more so. Starting today you will be participating in a skill exam to determine your potential future here at Atlas academy."  
I felt a spark of panic flair in my chest _**more tests?**_  
Around the room I heard some groans and angry muttering but Ironwood waved one hand, the gloved one, in the air as if to shoo away their complaints and my fears.  
"There is no reason to be worried. Rest assured that each and every one of you already has a place here at the academy. The upcoming tests are simply designed to help me and the faculty to decide where your strengths lie, and determine the team you will be a part of for the next four years here at Atlas Academy. There is no ranking. This is not a competition. It is merely an initial assessment of your skills."

That didn't really put me at ease. So there was no leader board? It still meant that the Headmaster, my new teachers and all my peers would be watching me as I tried my best not to screw up. Someone else was apparently unconvinced because I heard a scoffing "hmmph" from off to my left. Looking down the line I saw the Faunus in black military clothes shaking his head. Ironwood turned to glare briefly at him and the guy glared right back, unafraid, with the same look of distrust and dislike he had fixed me with when I'd gotten off the monorail yesterday.  
 _ **That guy definitely doesn't like humans**_ I decided, _**definitely avoid**_.  
"I will now hand over to Lieutenant Hawk our school councillor and student liaison, who will explain the first part of the upcoming exercises. Good luck." With that he took a step back and the woman who had first met us at the monorail terminal stepped forward. A white canvas rolled down behind her, the lights in the room dimmed and a projector flickered to life, throwing up an image of what looked to be a top down view of the snowy forest below the academy. There was some text on the slide too but I couldn't really make out from my position looking between the shoulders of taller students.

"Good morning Atlas Academy students" she greeted us formally "you should all recognise me from yesterday but I shall introduce myself properly now. I am Lieutenant Alba Hawk, Atlas 1st tactical reconnaissance unit. I am also your councillor and student liaison for as long as you are here at Atlas Academy. I will be glad to help you with any questions or problems you may have." She offered a smile but her hands never shifted from the small of her back. It was a very military introduction, not a very reassuring one. "Over the next seventy two hours you will be participating in an examination that will consist of two stages. The first will present you with a scenario that any Huntsman or Huntress could potentially encounter on the job" She extended a telescopic pointer toward the image of the forest. "The task will be a retrieval operation. Today Group A will undertake the test and group B will observe. Tomorrow, the groups will switch. You and your partner will be dropped at Frostholz Forest's northern edge here, beneath the academy" she touched her pointer to a location in the image, "make your way through the forest using whatever method you see fit, dispatching any Grimm you encounter. Retrieve one of the Attaché cases and return to the deployment dropship for extraction. Any pair that is incapacitated or is unable to retrieve one of the cases will score poorly." I looked at Olive. She was the only person I could think to ask to be my partner. Aside from her the only other person I even knew by name was Ash and I got the feeling that teamwork wasn't exactly his strong suit. "Attacking your classmates is forbidden, however you may team up with other pairs in order to overcome unexpected situations."  
 _ **Unexpected situations? Geez**_ I thought. _**I was worried about doing well on the test. Now I'm worried about just surviving it!  
**_ "Questions?" Hawk asked.

When nobody offered any she clicked again and the image on the projector vanished. I expected a new one to replace it but Lieutenant Hawk glanced over her shoulder. Colonel Ironwood rose from his chair as the lights came up and stepped forward once again. He cleared his throat and his grin became a little awkward.  
"I would just like to apologise to you all for what I said at the start of this briefing. I'm afraid I wasn't entirely truthful. I should have said that the first _stage_ of the assessment will not be a competition." He paused to make eye contact with everyone in the room, gauging their reactions. "As many of you will be aware, at the end of this semester Atlas will be hosting the Vytal festival tournament. As such there is a new 2nd stage to the examination. On the final day you will all come together to participate in tournament style duels in the school arena with the winners of each round progressing via a tournament style bracket system until we have an overall champion. During the first bracket you will participate in your pairs. The winning pair from each fight will then progress. The second stage matches will be one on one. All you will have to rely on is your wits, your weapons and your skills. I wish you all the best of luck. Remember that the staff, students and I will all be watching." He smiled that half smile again. "No pressure. I wish you all the best of luck." He turned and walked off stage. Immediately movement and babbling broke out as people began to discuss the upcoming trials and find partners.

"Attention please!" Lieutenant Hawk was back at the front of the stage again. "If you could all please consult your scrolls you will find that our computers have already determined, based on your transcripts and the interactions I observed yesterday, who your partner will be." Angry muttering broke out. Lieutenant Hawk cleared her throat again. She clearly had more to say. When the angry muttering finally died down she spoke again. "I feel I should also make you aware, that the individual you have been paired with will be your partner for the entirety of your time here at Atlas Academy." The angry muttering became to an outraged roar. Lieutenant Hawk remained impassive staring out at the crowd. When the row showed no sign of subsiding she reached to her waist and drew the sidearm that hung there. I stuffed my fingers in my ears just before she raised it over her head and fired a shot into the air. Apparently it was a blank since no hole appeared in the ceiling, but it did the job of shutting everyone up. I was sure she was about to explode with rage and have the entire hall doing push ups until sundown but when she spoke aloud she sounded calm and reassuring. "Please understand that this is not done to sow discontent. It is merely another part of your training. There will come a time when you will be required to work with those you aren't particularly well acquainted with or possibly even don't like. Of course if you wind up with someone you know . . . well I guess you're pretty lucky aren't you?" She smiled faintly. She really was the school councillor after all. I had been anxious as all hell, and everyone else had been furious but as she said that everyone seemed to relax. I had a pleasant feeling of calmness wash over me that I couldn't understand the source of. Some of the others around me even looked confused as though they couldn't understand why their anger had suddenly left them. After another moment the pleasant fuzziness faded away to just regular calm but the room seemed to have sufficiently cooled. Lieutenant Hawk sighed and rotated her neck as though it were stiff. "Consult your scrolls now and then move to stand by your new partner" she instructed, pulling a pair of rectangular wire rimmed reading glasses out of her pocket and slipping them on to consult her own scroll. "And if there are any questions or confusion, speak to me immediately. We have a lot to do today."

With my anxiety rapidly snowballing into dread again I pulled my scroll from the breast pocket of my jacket and, after a few deep breaths to prepare myself for what was to come, consulted the screen. I could have almost cried with relief. The photograph I had had taken on the day I applied for Atlas Academy had flashed up on the screen, my name beneath it. And alongside it was an image of a black haired, black feathered, green eyed woman. I didn't even need to look at the name. There's no one else it could have been but Olive. I glanced over at her. She was looking at me with relief but as she looked her eyes drifted down apparently taking me in in my entirety, lingering on my freckles, the spot of dirt on my nose that I hadn't been able to shift in the shower before I left for the Academy, my guns, my jeans, my boots. For just a moment her expression changed from relief to worry. Did she think I couldn't handle myself? Then again, I'd spent half an hour in the line yesterday trying to judge people's ability based on their appearance. What right did I have to feel offended because someone else was doing it to me?

Apparently someone wasn't as happy with their new partner as I was. From across the room a furious roar got _everyone's_ attention.  
"You have got to be kidding! There is no way I'm working with you!" The entire hall turned to see Ash pointing a furious finger at the cat Faunus. His one red eye burned with rage and disgust. Across from him cat guy was standing with one hand in his pocket the other still holding his scroll. He fixed Ash in turn with an icy glare.  
"Believe me" he said, his voice was quieter, deceptively calm but with an edge to it that nobody could miss. "I am just as unhappy about this as you are. But these are the orders we've been given, and we will follow them without complaint." I wanted to back away a few more feet but I couldn't tell who from; Ash's burning rage or the feline Faunus' cold fury?  
"Ash Draed, Cairan Frost, what is the problem over here?" demanded Lieutenant Hawk, hopping down from the stage and striding into the midst of the confrontation with absolutely no hesitation. Ash rounded on her as she drew near.  
"The problem _Lieutenant_ is that your computer is talking crap! You need to run me through that program again because there is no way I'm spending the next four years tied to this pompous, overfed, soft-faced house cat!"  
 _ **Soft faced?**_ The lines of Frost's furious face were sharp enough to cut glass. He said nothing but I could feel the tension ramp up another notch at the insult.

"ENOUGH!" Hawk yelled and calm crashed into me this time. Like, it actually hit me in the face, as though it were a physical force. And it clearly did the same for the others as the fury in the air suddenly evaporated.  
"Mr Draed, listen to me" Hawk insisted calmly, "This is exactly the sort of personality flaw this selection is designed to expose. And in time it _will_ make you a finer Huntsman as you learn how to co-operate with others. Something your transcript says you are sorely in need of I might add" she said, looking at him over the rim of her glasses. "This selection process is the same for you as it is for everyone else. Nobody changes partners I'm afraid." Ash opened his mouth again, no doubt to say something very rude, but she continued to stare at him and her look hardened into a warning glare. "Of course if you still feel that you are unable to work with your new partner, you are welcome to collect your bags and get right back on the monorail."  
"Fine" Ash grunted, his eye not meeting either of hers.  
"Good boy" Hawk said turning away.  
"And Mr Frost" she went on turning her eyes on him now.  
"Yes Lieutenant?"  
"The faculty is well aware of your past record with partners. I hope I don't need to remind you that inflicting serious physical injury to your new one will not be tolerated."  
"No ma'am. I don't. There is no need to remind me" he agreed darkly. She nodded and turned away but I was just close enough to hear Frost as he muttered, "neither did you need to inform every human here" under his breath.

After that things were relatively uneventful: Breakfast, a safety briefing, distribution of the school's student manual (which was so thick you could have used them as bricks and built a house with them). Then Olive and I joined the other students from group A on the walk out of the academy to a landing pad where a pair of Atlas dropships waited to fly us to Frostholz Forest. As it turned out my estimate on the number of students had been off. Group A was half of the new students and there were only thirty two of us so I guess there must only have been seventy or so after all. We filed aboard as quickly as we could. Olive had some trouble with the size of the dropship's cargo bay. She managed to whack both me and the guy on her other side with her wings as she struggled into the harness, but before long we were on our way. I started to feel a lot better as we flew, more like my old self. Once we were through the whole 'welcome to Atlas' spiel and actually doing something I started to feel less anxious. It reminded me of a time when I was little. My dad had once signed us up for a parent and child sports festival with the grand prize of fifteen thousand Lien. That had been a month before . . . well, before mum and I had lost him. I was only eight but I'd gotten so keyed up in the days leading up to it that the night before I had been physically sick. The anxiety of messing up and letting dad down had really done a number on me, but the second that the first event had started all that anxiety had been forgotten in the rush of excitement and the thrill of the competition. The feelings I'd had up until getting on the dropship had been pretty much the same. After a minute or two I turned to Olive to see that she had produced a book from _somewhere_ and was rapidly flipping through the pages.  
"Come on Olive" I joked, "I don't think you've got time to finish that chapter. It's only a short flight."  
"It's a book on the geography of Atlas" she told me without looking up, apparently speedreading, "the cold mountainous terrain and sheer cliffs that surround both Atlas and Mantle keep most Grimm at bay but it means the ones that do wander the wilds here are tougher than anywhere else in Remnant. Thankfully there shouldn't be too many of them in Frostholz. Its proximity to Atlas means that soldiers and Huntsmen are constantly running population control operations." She sounded like she was trying to reassure herself not me.

"Okay" a male voice broke over the comms system. "Time to get out of those harnesses kiddies, drop zone in thirty seconds. When the light goes green, jump, utilize your landing strategy to reach the ground safely, retrieve an attaché case and then return to the marker on your scroll's map for exfil. Only one case per pair. Each pair must have a case to complete the exercise. Doors opening in ten seconds." I felt my excitement turn to horror again.  
 _ **Landing strategy?**_ I'd heard rumours about Atlas Academy testing its prospects by throwing them from a dropship in flight but I'd thought the guy who told me had been kidding. _**  
**_"Door's open" the pilot shouted, and sure enough the hatch in front of me began to slide open. We had been the last to board the dropship. Unfortunately for me that meant we were at the front of the line.  
"Olive?" I asked weakly.  
"What?" she said, concerned by my tone.  
"Catch me?" Then we were jumping.

Any grogginess left over from the morning was blasted away by the icy wind of freefall as we plummeted toward the snow covered trees below. It stretched the skin on my face back and made my hair fly out behind me like a pink party streamers. I rolled in mid-air to look back up. I saw the other students in free fall; all of them had their weapons out. All of them except Olive who was streaking toward me like a black missile, her wings tucked around her streamlining her descent. She shot past me and I rolled over again to follow only to find the ground much closer than before. Then Olive was alongside me.  
"Give me your hand!" She yelled into the whipping wind. I reached out and grabbed wildly for her outstretched arm, the wind stinging so much I could barely keep my eyes open to see her. When I caught hold of her we both tumbled together for a second, then she had my other hand and her wings flared wide open. My neck nearly snapped at the sudden drop in speed. Behind me Olive yelped in pain. "I've never flown for two!" She groaned. The ground was still coming up fast but we had slowed massively.  
"Okay, when I say, let go."  
She was silent for barley a second, "Okay."  
"NOW!" I yelled.  
 _ **Time for a bit of clever gymnastics, and some luck.**_ I thrust my hands out in front of me grabbing at the bare lifeless branch of a tall tree. As I caught hold and the impact nearly ripped my arms from their sockets, but the momentum carried me around the branch like a gymnast's high bar. I let it propel me all the way around the branch for a full revolution, then released and flew toward the trunk of the tree in front of me pulling out Dawnlighter as I went. As I began to drop I thrust them forward, stabbing their attached blades deep into the bark, anchoring myself there. Above me Olive hovered, panting heavily but looking impressed as I yanked the first blade out of the wood and began to lower myself toward the ground.  
"Nice job" she congratulated me between pants. "You're heavier than you look though, I've got to get down though my wings are killing me" she admitted dropping below me as she flapped toward the ground.

We reunited at the base of the tree.  
"That was impressive" Olive told me reaching out a hand to help me up as I dropped from the lowest branch, bum first into a pile of snow. "I was honestly worried you were going to go splat for a second there. I guess I underestimated you."  
"Years of gymnastics training" I told her, "I was even a cheerleader for a little while."  
"Hmm, pink and peppy" she joked.  
I grinned "oh har har Olive" I said sarcastically turning to stare around the stretch of forest where we'd landed. "I'm just thankful my aura kept me from ripping the skin off my hands. So, which way now?" She glanced around too, her feathers rustling to dislodge some snow I'd brought down with me.  
"We're on the forests southern edge. I'm not sure exactly where but Hawk said the cases were at the northern edge." She produced a compass from a pouch on her 'belt of many things' as I thought of it. Apart from the buckle in the front the thing was more pockets and pouches and vials than belt. She consulted the compass for a moment. "Which means we need to goooo" she swirled her finger in the air as she examined it, "that way" she concluded pointing in a direction opposite to the one _I_ thought we needed to go. **(Hence why I should never be trusted to navigate for the group when trying to find our way in a new city, MUM!)**

Together we began to trudge forth in the snow, wary of Grimm and other potential threats. Progress was slow. The snow on the ground lay thick and powdery and my boots sank almost up to the cuff with every step. I was wishing that I'd worn a winter coat instead of my leather jacket. I'd packed one of course but I'd thought I'd have time to get to my luggage before being thrust into a practical exercise. After about fifteen minutes of walking my teeth were chattering and my feet were numb. I was also seriously hoping we didn't run into any Uber Grimm because my joints were rapidly freezing and I didn't think I'd have anywhere near the manoeuvrability I needed. If we spotted them far enough away I knew I could bullseye them pretty easily but if they jumped us, got in close quickly, then I'd be in trouble. I had no idea about Olive. As far as I was aware she had a staff which meant either dust mage or some form of martial art or possibly a combination of both. It then occurred to me that I hadn't gotten a proper look at her weapon. In fact I hadn't seen it at all since the day before. I wondered if that bitchy girl from the registration line hadn't had it confiscated or something after all. When I asked her about it she grinned, and reached behind her back. I heard the sound of metal being drawn from leather and she produced a two foot long green stick with a flower bud on the end. Confused, I was about to ask her why she was waving a fancy candlestick at me when she pushed a button and it telescoped rapidly to four feet in length, the bud unfolding to reveal some sort of chamber/mechanism that I didn't get a chance to look at before she whirled the thing over her head in a blur and stabbed the end down into the snow.

"I present to you Calibre Alto" she announced proudly, "my very own reinforced alchemical staff. A bit flamboyant I know but I wanted something truly unique when I was designing it."  
"You made that?" I asked, incredulous.  
"With _a lot_ of help" she admitted wryly, "but yeah. It's customary for students at Signal Academy to forge their own weapons. Mine took a little longer than most but it was worth it. Plus since it was on the Academy's budget I was able to get all the bells and whistles!"  
"Bells and whistles?" I asked. Her eyes sparkled and I groaned internally, feeling as though I had just activated her nerd mode. I had.  
"Yeah, the revolving cylinder in the head of the staff has seven chambers, each containing a different elemental dust crystal. With just a twist I can switch out any of the crystals in the six outer chambers for the one in the central inner chamber. Combine that with any other dust that I insert into the recombination chamber here" she indicated a trio of holes in centre of the shaft from which black veins seemed to snake out from across the staff's entire length, "and the possibilities for dust combinations in combat are only limited by my own knowledge and the dust I have with me!" She said all of this very fast, without pausing for breath. I was impressed for a moment.  
"Hold on, doesn't that mean you're in real trouble if you run out of dust, or if the enemy is too close or too quick?"  
Olive grimaced "yeah that's what my instructor said. That's why the final product is somewhat different than my original design. I had to change some of the materials to a more durable metal so that I could use it as a melee weapon too. That and my instructors made me spend another three years learning a modified form of Bōjutsu." When I looked at her blankly she rolled her eyes as if I were a bit thick. "You know? The ancient Mistral art of staff fighting?"

I whistled appreciatively.  
"That's awesome!" I admitted.  
"Not really" she insisted. "I've never seen actual combat, or even a live Grimm. Just practice matches with tutors, and the images in my textbooks." I doubted that a lack of real world experience would slow her down that much. For the first time I realised that I was feeling jealous more than anything else. Olive Valerian seemed to me to be everything I could ever want to be, and more than I ever could. She was taller than me, she was smarter than me, and she was prettier than me (at least I thought so), she had a better weapon and training than me. . . Everything she did was just so next level. And she was just so fricking nonchalant about it all. As if none of it was a big deal! I squashed it down as best I could. Jealously of your partner was not a good thing to develop on your very first mission together. She made it more difficult to ignore though when she asked:  
"So what about you?"  
I looked down at Dawnlighter sitting in their holsters slug on my hip. I looked back up and shrugged. My weapons were inherited; given to me by my mum as a seventeenth birthday present from my dad. They had originally been his though I had made one or two modifications, making it easier to deal with the faster, grabbier Grim. Namely the short blades under each barrel, plus my personal crest embossed onto the grips.

I had just looked up to answer her when a feral snarl erupted from somewhere off to our left. Not one from a Grimm but Not entirely human either. It was a sound I recognised: Ash. Olive heard it too. She flattened her wings against her back and collapsed her staff. We both scurried to a nearby bush and peaked around it, careful not give ourselves away by dislodging any of the thick snow on it. In the clearing beyond I could see Ash dodging and rolling, loosing arrow after arrow from his bow into the chest of a massive Alpha Beowulf. The thing was wickedly fast, slashing at him constantly, forcing him to remain on the move. But he was equally quick, dodging and weaving with practiced ease. His fighting style didn't seem refined or fluid, like a martial artist's or as though it has been taught to him by someone in an academy classroom. It was wild, rapid and unpredictable like the Beowulf he was fighting. He spent almost as much time crouched low on arm and legs when he moved as the Alpha did, as though he had learned to fight from the Grimm itself. It was a brutal contest but in the end Ash won. They both had equal speed but Ash had better agility and a better weapon. Soon the Alpha crashed down into the snow, twelve arrows sprouting between the ribs that showed gruesomely on the outside of the creature's chest. He strolled right up to the creature and began yanking his arrows out of it before it was even fully dead.

No sooner was the last arrow free than another roar sounded, deeper this time. Ash spun dropping back into his feral crouch as an enormous Ursa smashed through the underbrush on the clearing's far side.  
Ash snarled back challengingly. "Come on Then!" he bellowed, "Come on! Give me a fight to remember!" And the Ursa seemed ready to do just that, rearing up on its hind legs and roaring its own challenge at him. Ash snarled in response and darted forward, stringing an arrow as he went. He was halfway across the clearing before a single shot shook the snow from our bush and made us both jump. The Ursa toppled forward, dead, and Ash had to skid to a halt to avoid getting crushed by its falling corpse.  
"What the . . .?" he asked, sounding both disappointed and confused. Twenty feet to our left Cairan Frost stepped from the tree line, a smoking revolver held in his right hand. He looked vaguely irritated.  
"If you need to dispatch a target you do it quickly and efficiently. Why waste bravado on a creature that can't even understand you?" he demanded holstering the weapon as he strode briskly forward.  
Ash growled, his red eye fixed menacingly on Cairan. "I wouldn't expect you to understand house cat!"  
"Don't call me that!" ordered Cairan, his tone making it clear that it wasn't the first time Ash had used the derogatory nickname. "Now, I'm sure your audience enjoyed the show . . ." he gestured ambiguously in the direction of our bush and we ducked again, "but we have an objective to complete. So if you are done playing gladiator let's go!" He ordered, never breaking stride as he crossed the clearing and disappeared out the other side. Ash tore his eyes away from our hiding spot to glare threateningly at the retreating back of his partner.  
"I told you not to give me orders cat!" he yelled, but sprinted off through the trees after him anyway.

Olive straightened with a long exhalation of breath. I followed suit.  
"I hope we don't have to face either of them in the tournament round!" Olive said, reaching into her pocket and producing an old watch that she consulted briefly. "Frost is right though; we do have an objective and the timer's running. It's already been nearly an hour since the exercise started" I gave myself a little shake to dislodge the images of the fight from my head.  
"Well what are we waiting for then?" I asked, screwing some of my humour and confidence back into place. "Let's get going."  
Olive smiled at my enthusiasm. "Sure" she said with a slight chuckle, "I'll fly up and take a quick look around." She unfurled her wings, crouching down, and with a jump and a massive downward sweep of her wings that stirred up a great flurry of snow and made me splutter, she launched skyward. A minute later she dropped down in the centre of the clearing and I hurried over to her.  
"North is definitely that way" she told me pointing in the direction Ash and Cairan had disappeared, "and there is gunfire and shouting off to the east as well as Griffons circling to the West. The safest path is straight ahead." She paused for a second then added, "It would probably be better for me to stay on the ground too. At least for a while."  
"Can you not fight in the air?" I asked, wishing that she had offered to stay in the air to guide us quickly through the forest.  
"I can but I don't really want to if I can avoid it. It's not something I'm particularly good at and wing injuries are especially painful. They take a _long_ time to heal too, particularly if the smaller, more delicate bones are broken."

So it was back to sloughing through the snow in a general northerly direction, mostly wishing I had warmer clothing but occasionally dispatching an overly curious grim with a bullet or two from Dawnlighter or a blast of fire from Calibre Alto. We didn't encounter anything too powerful or massive. I suspected that was because Ash and Cairan were ahead of us clearing them out. I also suspected that Olive was deliberately following their trail for that exact reason. After twenty minutes of trudging along we broke out of the trees into what looked like a small military encampment. Crates and boxes were scattered around the ruins of several slashed tents and a burned out truck.  
"Whoever was here got hit hard by Grimm." I commented.  
"Or that's what the instructors wanted it to look like" replied Olive, still staring around intently as though expecting an ambush.  
"Do you think they're in the tents?" I asked. As though on cue, Carian emerged from the largest tent with an aluminium briefcase in hand.  
 _ **Question answered**_ I thought. As he straightened he caught sight of us. His eyes didn't turn hostile when he spotted me, as they had when I'd gotten off the train yesterday, but neither were they friendly. They were utterly unreadable, his face completely impassive and I had no idea what he was thinking. I had hoped being partnered with Olive would help show I wasn't some Faunus hating bigot and had at least scored me some points. He wasn't glaring at me with intent to kill at least. He stared for a second longer before giving us one quick nod and striding off back the way he had come. Ash emerged from the tent just after him.  
"Alright shrimp?" he asked with a grin as he passed me. "Better get moving. I don't think there are many cases left" he warned before taking off after Frost.

We split up to search the camp. After a while I began to worry that Ash had been right and there were none left. The first three tents I tried all came up empty and at the forth I nearly head-butted another classmate as he and his partner ducked out of it, case in hand. Panic was just beginning to set in as I ducked behind the burned out military transport truck into a final very small tent. Inside, poking out of a shredded sleeping bag was an aluminium case just like the one I'd seen Cairan carrying. I grabbed it and rushed back outside to find Olive emerging from another tent looking disappointed. I raised the case over my head and called to her. She looked up and her face immediately brightened, her wings giving a little flutter of delight as she jogged over to me.  
"Nice job Misty" she said, still smiling. "I thought we were in trouble for a minute there." She shivered and rustled her wings again. I shivered to; the relief of finding the case had briefly made me forget that I was freezing. "Let's get out of here before you turn into a strawberry snow cone" she joked.

The extraction zone was different to where we had been dropped off I guessed because there was no room for the dropship to land right against the cliff. Our pickup location was on the edge of a frozen lake. Olive and I emerged from the trees to find Lieutenant Hawk waiting for us just beyond the tree line, the other students gathered around her as she inspected each pair. We fell into line just as she reached us.  
"Well done you two" she said with a smile, "a bit of a rough start with your drop but overall a good use of navigational skills and strategic thinking; allowing the others to clear a path through the heaviest resistance." She turned from us to look back down the line. "Well done to all of you. You have completed the exercise with half an hour to spare. A promising start." She reached to her pocket. "Now if you will all give me your . . ." she looked down at the hand in her pocket and frowned. "Damn, I left my scroll on the dropship. Please wait here whilst I go and get it. I need to make sure everyone is accounted for before we board. Don't want anybody getting left behind do we?" she said turning to jog back across the open space.

I watched her disappear into the dropship for a few seconds. As she re-emerged we began to make our way over to her, Olive and me at the head of the group with Cairan and Ash behind us. There was still about forty yards of open ground between us when everything went sideways. First there was a _CRACK_ of gunfire from further down the shoreline and the lieutenant went down. Then a group of a dozen people clad in raider armour broke cover from further down the treeline to our left, streaking toward the dropship and the lieutenant's prone form. She was still moving but she had been hit in the leg or something because she wasn't able to stand.  
"AMBUSH!" roared Cairan from behind me. "Protect the Lieutenant! Long range weapons hold your fire we can't afford to hit the dropship! Charge!" Nobody followed his command, because at that moment a WHOLE PACK of Beowulves burst from the trees directly behind us, falling immediately upon the students at the back of the group. We all turned to defend ourselves. We had to, but I was still aware of what was going on down by the water's edge. As the Beowulves encircled us I caught a glimpse of the fight by the shoreline. The dropship crew were engaged in a firefight with several of the bandits but three of them were hauling the unconscious form of Lieutenant Hawk out of the line of fire toward the tree line and I realised that they must have led the Beofwulfs to us in order to keep the students busy.

I lost sight of what was going on after that as a Beowulf lunged at me and I ducked, drawing Dawnlighter to retaliate. The creature flew over me and I fired two shots into its belly. As it landed and staggered I turned and put another two rounds right through its skull. All around me the other students were similarly engaged in combat. There was a blast of fire and heat to my right and a Beowulf howled in agony, enveloped in flame, as Olive blasted it with her staff before whirling the thing over her head and smashing it in the jaw. The charred monster fell still moving but Olive twisted her grip on the staff and with a metallic CLACK a vicious spike emerged from the base which she proceeded to ram right into the fallen creature's throat.  
"Textbook" she muttered as she straightened. The next few minutes were a blur of combat as the students made quick work of the remaining members of the Beowulf pack. By the time we reached to dropship the bandits were all gone. The dropship crew and students all looked harried but none seemed to be seriously injured.

The students hurried aboard the dropship clutching their cases. I had needed a few minutes to find ours as the furious fighting had left it half buried in the snow and difficult to spot. It was only after the last student had passed me that I realised who was missing.  
"Where's Lieutenant Hawk?" I asked one of the soldiers.  
"We couldn't get to her" he told me quietly, "we tried but these bastards were on us the second we opened the hatches." He stepped back to show two of the bandits, a male and a female both bound and unconscious, slung into a corner of the hold. I looked at the woman closely. Her clothing was a patchwork of grey and white fabrics with a few pieces of armour here and there to protect vulnerable areas like her shoulders, wrists and elbows. She had a few cuts and scrapes from the fight and a trickle of dried blood ran down from under her hairline, probably from the blow that had knocked her out. Her hair was long and pale, a typical Atlesian blonde, but dirty and held in a loose ponytail by a scrap of cloth that she used as a ribbon to keep it back.  
"We'll aren't you going to go get her?" demanded Ash, dropping his own case to the deck with a loud clatter and moving toward the soldier.  
"No chance" the soldier said. "We're nearly out of ammo and our objective is to escort you nuggets back to Campus and get these two to the holding cells for interrogation."  
"But she was injured" Ciaran put in, stepping up to stand beside Ash. "Are you telling me that the humans in the Atlas military aren't willing to look out for one of their own?" The soldier was stone faced and didn't respond.

"And what about all of you?" Cairan demanded turning to the other students. "Are none of you going to help a superior officer in danger?" Some of the students looked ashamed but none answered.  
"Listen kid" snapped the soldier, "Going after her would be suicide, especially after dark! The Colonel and the other staff will have seen what happened on the monitors and they'll send out a search and rescue patrol to get her. Until then sit down, buckle up and shut up!"  
"You humans disgust me" Cairan growled, not sitting.  
"And you Faunus piss me off! Besides you wouldn't even know where they went!" he shouted moving up the cargo bay toward the cockpit

At his words I suddenly remembered something ash had done when we first met.  
I leaned over to him and whispered "hey Ash?"  
"What is it shrimp?" he answered distractedly, his gaze still locked on the soldier.  
"When you sniffed me back at the monorail and were able to tell all that stuff about me, was that part of your semblance?"  
"Yeah?" He looked at me then, seeming mildly impressed that I'd figured that out.  
"Think you could use it to find the Lieutenant?"  
"I like your thinkin' shrimp. . . But first we got to get out of this ship" he gestured at the two soldiers crouched at the still open hatchway.  
"The dropship will begin to lift off before they close the hatch. When I give the signal, release your buckles and run like a mad Razorback. If you hesitate you'll be crushed in the door" Cairan said, obviously having listened to our entire conversation.  
"Got it" Ash said with surprisingly little anger or condescension. He turned to Olive "you in or what Dust Witch?"  
"Dust MAGE" she corrected irritably, "and of course I'm in but for the record; I think this is a fantastically bad idea and if we die I'm holding you two responsible" she glared at me and Ash.  
"That's fair" I said.

Outside we heard the engines spin up and sure enough the dropship left the ground before the two soldiers retreated up the ramp and it began to close.  
"NOW!" yelled Cairan bolting out of his seat and charging for the hatchway, the three of us right behind him.  
"What're you doing? Get back here!" yelled one of the soldiers, making a wild grab for me as I passed. I closed my eyes as I hurtled through the closing portal into open air. There was an awful sensation of dropping for just a second before I fell with a _whump_ into the snow. I was briefly worried when I didn't hear the sound of a fourth body dropping to the ground. Then I remembered that Olive had wings. Sure enough, I looked up to see her fluttering down to earth with far more grace than any of us managed. She landed next to me and we sprinted for the trees. Not waiting to see if the dropship would come back down to get us.

I charged headlong into the underbrush only to be nearly choked when someone caught me by the collar of my top and yanked me to a stop.  
"Woah there shrimp" Ash said letting go of me. Olive joined us a second later and we watched through the leaves as the dropship rose higher, hovering for a few seconds, before wheeling away to the southwest and disappearing from view.  
"Okay then" I said, "what now?"  
"Now it's the dog's turn to be useful" Ciaran remarked.  
"Frost I swear . . ." Ash growled but he ended the threat on a frustrated huff and turned back toward the lake. I nearly yelled after him to come back but decided against it. He crossed back to the spot where Lieutenant Hawk had fallen. He crouched low to the ground, looking at something in the snow. Then he went still for a moment before crouching low once more. The second time though he looked more like he was sniffing and when he looked back to us I swear I could see the golden glow of his eye from my spot by the trees. He waved us over and the three of us approached, stopping a little ways off as he continued to circle the area. He was low to the ground, almost on all fours, his head weaving back and forth as though his nose was literally following one of those wavy stink lines you see in cartoons.

"Tell me you have the scent and you're not just chasing your own tail" Cairan remarked, sounding impatient.  
"I've got 'em" Ash assured. "They carried her rather than dragged her, and the blood from the injury was surprisingly minimal making the scent harder to track but they headed North West from this location, around the lake by the looks of it." he gestured between my feet and I jumped aside. "And with my enhanced vision I can just make out their tracks." I had to really squint in the darkening light but sure enough when I crouched down I could just barely make out boot prints heading back toward the trees at the edge of the lake. The constant light snowfall and updrafts from the dropship's engines had almost completely obliterated them. "Come on" Ash barked, darting away. The gold in his eyes was gone now but he was still following his nose. As we began to follow Carian turned to Olive, taking in her wings sceptically.  
"I assume you can manage sustained flight?"  
"Well enough" she responded coolly.  
"Good then I would like you to get up above the treeline and watch for enemies or breaks in the canopy that might suggest a clearing of some kind. Stay within earshot and if you do see someone please drop down quietly. Be subtle. The last thing we need is to for you to get shot down and I'd hate to have to carry you around. You look heavy."  
"What makes you think I'd give us away?" Olive asked indignantly.  
"Because nothing says 'Target' better than a six foot two woman with bird wings" Cairan remarked, smirking. Olive flushed, she opened her mouth to respond but as she did her wings flared brushing the branches over her head causing a large amount of snow to drop on her. Cairan actually chuckled at the sight, and I had to admit it was funny to see her spluttering and flailing indignantly. She shook the snow off, still slightly pink with embarrassment and glared at Cairan, but she knew that his point had been proven.  
"Fine" she conceded turning back into the clearing and launching skyward again to follow from the air, barely hovering above tree height.

We made our way through the forest slowly and carefully, following the trail that only Ash could see, and avoiding all Grimm that Olive warned us of. We had no idea how close the bandits were and any sound of fighting could have given us away. It wasn't until the forest ahead began to climb steeply that Cairan spoke to me directly for the first time.  
"You surprise me" he said so suddenly I almost missed it.  
"What?"  
"There are three Faunus here, and you are the only human. Yet you haven't once complained about it or passed comment. Aren't you worried we'll steal your valuables and leave you for dead? Or that we'll turn on you and savage you?" He sounded intensely sarcastic but I wasn't sure whether to laugh at his dark humour or turn and run from his threat.  
"Why on Remnant would I think that?"  
His eyes narrowed suspiciously on me "What do you think then?"  
"I think you are cold and way too serious, and you scare the crap out of me when you get angry. I can tell you hate humans, including me, though after what I saw yesterday I can understand why." I paused wondering to risk saying what else I was thinking. But he was still staring at me, looking sceptical so I plunged on. "But I also know you do care because I overheard you and your sister the day we arrived." He looked taken aback but I kept going, eager now to prove he could trust me not to shoot him in the back.

"I think Ash is . . . okay" I said carefully. I ducked under a low branch as we made our way up the slope. "He's obviously been through a lot and seems to hate humans too but not for the same reasons as you I think. If I had to guess I'd say he thinks humans and some Faunus (I remembered how he had called Cairan a soft-faced house cat back at the academy) as weak and he finds them pathetic because of it." I glanced up at the sky as Olive passed overhead, flashing through a gap in the trees. "As for Olive it's clear that she's a genius when it comes to dust. She's obviously from a rich family and isn't used to doing anything half way. She's smart, powerful, funny and way too pretty. I like her a lot" I admitted. "I hope we'll be good friends as well as partners." I took a break from singing my new friend's praises to negotiate a crevice in the rock. "But" I went on, "she's also naïve" I admitted remembering how shocked she had been by the registrar's response to her being a Faunus at the welcome ceremony. "And when it comes to combat she has almost no experience."

By the time I finished speaking I was actually out of breath. Though that may have actually been from the climb and not from speaking; the hill we were climbing was so steep now that we were almost scaling a vertical cliff. It was nearly totally dark now. The shattered moon was rising into the night sky, though the stars were obscured by the light pollution of Atlas some miles distant. Cairan was quiet and thoughtful for several minutes and I was worried that I'd pissed him off again.  
"You know" he said finally, "I actually wanted to know your thoughts about Faunus. I didn't expect to get a full analysis of each person's personality. It's like you didn't even factor in the fact that we aren't the same species." He looked back at me and his icy blue eyes showed a little surprise but now there was also respect there.  
"Why would I?" I asked seriously. "We're all people. There's no reason I would think of you differently just because you're a cat and she's a bird. Even if I am jealous of Olive."  
"Jealous?" Cairan asked, sounding genuinely surprised.  
"Well yeah, who wouldn't want to be able to fly?" I asked. He didn't answer for another minute, instead just staring at me before finally remarking, "You seem to be rather good at reading people." I shrugged.  
"I'm a people person" I admitted, a little self-consciously, "I like to make friends and it's easier if you can get a read on them quickly."

Cairan looked like he was going to say more but at that moment Olive dropped through a break in the trees ahead of us and hurried back to where we were waiting. Ash, who had been leading the way from a few yards ahead of us turned back to hear what she had to say.  
"There's a camp at the top of the hill" she said, a little out of breath. "The crest of the hill is a little ways ahead and they've set up camp there with sentries looking down into the woods."  
"Did they see you?" Cairan asked. Olive had been getting bolder as the sky got darker, flying higher and higher as the sun got lower until she was soaring almost fifty feet above the tree tops.  
"I don't think so" Olive answered, "they were looking down not up, and there was a group of Grimm harassing them on the far side of the hill, so I got a good look at their defences."  
"Could you see Hawk?" I asked.  
"No but there was a large steel cage against the eastern wall of the camp big enough to hold several people" Olive said.  
"Okay what about the guards?" Ash pressed. He already sounded eager, like he was spoiling for a fight.  
"There are way more than the dozen that attacked by the lake; at least thirty but most of them are fighting the Grimm. There are sentries along the walls all the way around the camp and at the gate, plus a few inside but that's it."  
"Approaches?"  
"Only two" she answered. "The hill right below the camp turns vertical with two crevasses, one at each end of the camp, that you could walk through but each is watched."

"So air is our best way in" Cairan mused. "It looks like you're our best bet Olive but as I said; stealth isn't your strong suit. You could drop into the camp easily but when they spot you they're going to be on you fast. Plus you'd have to fly the lieutenant out because she's injured."  
"What if I blew up the camp wall using my dust crystals?" Olive suggested. "The panic of the Grimm breaking through would give me a chance to get away."  
"There's still the problem of you being spotted. They'd know it was you who broke the wall and they'd gun you down before you could get Hawk free and fly her back to us." I perked up. Finally, it was my turn to show off.  
"I could get in, free Lieutenant Hawk and blow the wall before they knew I was there, then when the panic starts Olive can fly Hawk out whilst I come back down the Crevasse by the gate." All three of them turned to look at me; Ash doubtful, Olive confused, Cairan interested.  
"How?" he asked simply. I showed him. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on the image of the raider girl I'd taken the time to examine back at the dropship. I felt the draw on my aura and a gasp from Olive told me that my semblance was working. I opened my eyes and was gratified to see that all their looks had changed to shock.

"That is incredible" gasped Olive, circling around me. "You look just like that bandit the soldiers captured. Even the injuries are the same!"  
"It's not perfect though" Cairan observed, "Your eyes are still the same colour."  
"Plus it doesn't work on my voice" I said, releasing the illusion. "And I can only keep it up for about ten minutes before it'll start to drain my aura and give me a killer headache."  
"So it's visual only?" Ash asked.  
"Yeah" I admitted. "If someone brushed up against me they'd pass right through the bits that weren't really there like the armour plates but it should be enough to allow me to move around the camp without drawing too much attention."  
"It'll do" Cairan said decisively. "Olive, give her the Crystals then get ready to fly. Ash you and I will position ourselves under the trees at the base of the crevasse. We need to be ready to back her up if they chase her. Let's move!"

Ten minutes later I was being carried by Olive again as we hovered directly above the camp. She had been right. There were several large Ursa outside the camp and the bandits seemed to be struggling to keep them at bay. The sentries inside the camp were either looking down into the forest or firing on the Grimm from the walls but none were bothering to look straight up.  
"This is as low as I dare take you" Olive whispered, "any lower and they'll spot us for sure." I looked down we were still way too high for my liking but not so high that I couldn't drop without injury. There was a tarpaulin awning that the bandits were using to keep the snow off their supplies. I directed Olive to drop me onto it. I hit the canvas with a muffled _Fwhump_ and rolled, quickly dropping to the ground and ducking behind the boxes before anyone could see me. I took a few seconds to concentrate once again on the image of the bandit girl I had committed to memory. When I began to feel the draw on my Aura I opened my eyes and stepped quickly out from behind the boxes. Across the camp some of the bandits were scurrying around carrying weapons but none of them were paying the cage much attention. From where I was I could see that there _was_ someone in there.

The stack of boxes I had landed next to was on the side of the camp nearest the fight. Amongst the boxes of food there were also several crates of Dust with the Schnee Dust Company logo on them, no doubt looted from a train or something. I opened them up and tipped them over spilling piles of dust and crystals onto the dirt. Then I took the large and volatile crystal Olive had given me and stuck it on top of the pile. A shot from my revolver would set the whole thing off, and with this much extra Dust the wall would be obliterated. Now I just had to get to the Lieutenant.

As quickly as I dared I made my way across the camp, doing my best to stick to the shadows wherever possible. My disguise was fine for a passing, hurried, glance but it wouldn't stand up under scrutiny. And it definitely wouldn't hold up if one of them actually tried to talk to me. Eventually I reached the cage. Lieutenant Hawk was inside, her uniform rumpled and a bloody bandage tied around her leg wound. Her hands were tied behind her back, bound to one of the bars of the cage. As I approached she caught sight of me and I knew my disguise was working because a look of hatred formed on her face.  
"What do you want now, scum?" she demanded. "Shouldn't you be out there getting eaten along with your comrades?" I didn't say anything in case a bandit was nearby, just kept jogging toward where Hawk sat against one side of the cage. "I've already told you sick buddies that I'll not do "favours" for you or anyone else, and if you try it I swear I'll break something!"  
"Keep it down Lieutenant" I urged, crouching beside her and using Dawnlighter's blade to cut her loose. "It's me Misty Thulia. I'm here with a couple of other students. We're here to rescue you!"  
"What? How did you find me?" Hawk asked rubbing her wrists.  
"That was Ash. Listen, can you pretend to be tied up a little longer? I've got to set off the distraction. Olive will fly you out of here as soon as the panic starts" I told her, pointing up.  
We squinted skyward for a moment. It took a minute but we could just make out her silhouette where she was holding position in the sky above. Lieutenant Hawk looked back down at me and nodded, tucking her hands behind her back again "Understood."

I turned and scurried back across the camp. I would have stayed by the cage but there was no line of sight to the boxes from there and I'd only have one shot before someone noticed. I was just about to duck behind one of the tents when a voice called out from behind me and I froze.  
 _ **Damn it! So close!  
**_ "Hey Maple" the voice called again. "What're you doin' over there? We thought those Atlas military pukes had gotten ya! Come help us out!" I slowly turned to see one of the bandits jogging towards me. I waved awkwardly; big mistake. The guy stopped and was instantly suspicious. "Maple? You Alright? You're hurt and something looks . . . different." I took a step back trying to get out of sight around the tent. Just a few more step and I'd be able to set off the explosion! The bandit reached for his gun. "Don't move!" he ordered, stepping closer. "You're not Maple. Her eyes aren't green. Who are you?" Again I couldn't answer and I thought about reaching for Dawnlighter again but I doubted I could get either one of them un-holstered before this guy could shoot me. My ten minutes were nearly up too. "Answer me!" he ordered "what have you done with Maple?" I had just decided to go for my gun when Olive dropped straight down from the sky, slamming into the man's back boot heel first and knocking him out cold as something cracked.

"Nice save Olive" I said with relief.  
"I've been hovering overhead as close as I dared and when I saw you were in trouble I had to help!"  
"Thanks" I said, smiling.  
Olive shivered "its creepy hearing your voice coming out of someone else. I'll go get the lieutenant; you make sure they're looking the other way."  
"Got it" I turned and sprinted around the tent just in time to find one of the bandits crouching over the pile of dust. "I'd move if I were you" I warned. He might have been a bandit but he was still a person and I didn't want to see him blown apart in a Dust explosion. He whipped around to face me and his eyes widened in horror when he saw my gun. Then he was diving out of the way and I pulled the trigger. The explosion was deafening. Five or six types of Dust went off at once and splintered chunks of barricade went sailing through the air. As did one or two bandits who had been on the other side. Exactly as planned all the sentries and all of the bandits still in camp were soon running directly toward me. I didn't stop to see if Olive had the Lieutenant. I couldn't. They would be on me in seconds. Instead I turned and dashed out of the newly made hole/crater in the camp's border, doubling back along the wall toward the crevasse. The two bandits that had been guarding the main gate passed me, sprinting in the opposite direction but other than a glance they didn't acknowledge me.

The second I was in the crevasse I dropped the illusion. My head was pounding so hard I couldn't see straight and it would have depleted my aura entirely if I'd kept it up any longer. The sounds of gunfire and animal roars were growing louder and I could only guess that the panic of the breach was only drawing more Grimm. I stumbled out at the bottom of the crevasse, nearly tripping over my own feet with exhaustion. I _would_ have fallen had Ash not caught me against his chest and steadied me.  
"Woah there shrimp" he said, "that was quite a nice explosion you caused. We could see it from down here. I think you caused an avalanche somewhere too!" he laughed. I laughed too but it made my head hurt. I tried to disentangle myself from Ash and make my way back to where Olive and the Lieutenant had just landed next to Cairan but Ash stopped me again.  
"Here, let me help you Shrimp" he turned. "Here climb on" he offered.  
I hesitated "Not really helping my image of a weak human is it?" I asked feebly.  
"Are you kidding?" he asked, looking genuinely incredulous. "Any girl who is brave enough to sneak into a bandit camp to rescue someone _and_ blow the entire camp's population to hell in the process is alright by me. Now come on before I change my mind!"

I nearly protested again but my vision swam nauseatingly, and the ache in my head slammed against the inside of my skull like a jackhammer. I climbed aboard and he jogged down the hill to the others as if I weighed no more than a stuffed animal.  
"Well done" Lieutenant Hawk congratulated us as Ash and I drew near. "To orchestrate that entire rescue on the spot and implement it so flawlessly? Well, I'll be giving a special recommendation to the Colonel when we return." She paused then said, with a warm smile. "On a more personal note, you have my eternal gratitude. That camp is not within the boundaries of the testing ground and they knew that. They never would have been picked up on the fixed cameras and search and rescue would have had a tough time locating that camp." She looked back up the hill. The sound of gunfire and screaming was quieter from where we were but still audible. "They were going to hand me off to a slave trader at the first opportunity" she explained. Olive gasped in horror. "Apparently there are plenty of rich men who will pay a lot for an 'older woman'" she shuddered. The idea made me want to puke even more than the pounding in my head. "I dread to think what would have happened had you not found me. Thank you all. Now, let's get back to the lake. I don't want to be anywhere near this place when the Grimm finish with those bandits and the search dropship should be there by the time we arrive.

 _ **Good Idea**_ I thought.


	4. Chapter 3: Something Cliques

**There we are. I told you i was cycling through my projects didn't I? I hope you enjoy and as always feel free to leave constructive feedback and your own thoughts on the book in the review section.**

 **On a side note some of you may want to re read the whole thing from the beginning. Thanks to my editor ShadowDuck23 there has been a massive re-work of some of the content in earlier chapters. In some places entire paragraphs have changed in order to not be so crap.**

 **Athena's wisdom to you  
-Athena'sPride95**

* * *

Chapter 3: Something Cliques

Compared to the events of my first day at Atlas Academy, day two was downright boring. Thanks to our "heroics" we hadn't gotten back to the main hall until after two o'clock that morning.  
We were exhausted but I thought _**no big deal, everyone else will have long since fallen asleep by now.**_ Oohhh, how wrong I was. After the medics had seen lieutenant Hawk off of the rescue shuttle and we had been assured, rather ominously I thought, that we could expect a full debriefing within the next couple of days; the four of us returned to the hall together. There was no talking as we walked. Cairan had gone back to being impassive and indifferent, though occasionally glancing out of the corner of his eye. Ash was stomping along with his hands in his pockets, occasionally glaring daggers at the back of Cairan's head, and I got the feeling he was sulking. He was the one who'd been spoiling to fight the bandits but Cairan's plan had meant that he hadn't had the chance to even get a hit in. Nor had I to be fair, and I had been the one right in the middle of the camp. But I think Ash took it personally for some reason. Olive was reading something on her scroll as she walked. I glanced over and realised it was the footage of our rescue as seen from the Academy drones. I had no idea how she had gotten hold of it so fast. Me? I was just bone tired. My head was still aching, though less so than it had been, and my legs felt like jelly. It took all my remaining strength and personal pride not to lean on Olive for support. I was hungry too but that feeling was lesser most in my mind at the time. Right then all I had wanted was sleep.

We pushed open the doors to the hall where I expected to find rows of students, quietly asleep in their sleeping bags. Instead we found almost every student, and several members of staff, still awake and waiting for us. About a two dozen rushed us the second we were in the room, offering their praises and saying what a hero I was for saving a member of staff at risk to my own life. What a hero _I_ was. I noticed with some alarm and dismay that only a couple of them were even acknowledging the existence of the other three. And even fewer were talking to them. I glanced over the shoulder of one student at the rest of the room. Almost all of the students were still awake but the rest of them were either standing around in groups, or hunkered down in their sleeping bags. I could see looks of confusion, disdain, disgust and even outright hatred but almost no praise or respect. Suddenly embarrassed I tried to shake off my new fans and glanced to the other three. Olive wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were still fixed stalwartly on her scroll and at first I thought she hadn't even noticed the people around us. Then I saw the pink flush to her cheeks and I felt even worse. Cairan was talking to an Atlesian student who was currently shaking his hand and thanking him. His face was impassive, as usual, but when the student says that he guessed "some of you Faunus can be okay after all" Ciaran's eyes flash menacingly and to me it looked like he was marking the guy for death. Ash was glaring around the room, the exact opposite of Cairan, his disdain showing in a defiant snarl on his face as though daring anyone to say something to him.

I mumbled some approximation of thanks and pushed my way through the crowd but they followed me, asking question after question as I made my way back to my sleeping bag, Olive trailing behind the group still staring at her scroll, though I knew the video she had been watching had ended just after we entered the Hall. My feeble protests that I was tired and would they please go away so I could sleep, were largely ignored. Most of them were talking _at me_ rather than _to_ me and for the most part I kept quiet, hoping that if I was boring they would leave. Apparently not. Olive had gotten into her sleeping bag quietly and turned her back to me, cocooning herself in her wings again and I knew she was trying to block out the sound of my new "friends" persistent talking. As the minutes rolled into an hour I finally began to get angry. I was just winding up to yell at them when a different voice cut across those of the students still crowded around me, loud and stern.  
"You students go back to bed" barked lieutenant Hawk, striding into the room as though nothing had happened to her, "stop bothering Miss Thulia and let her sleep! You have your own examination to undertake tomorrow." The students all fell to quiet grumbling and slumped away back to their sleeping bags. I caught lieutenant Hawk's eye and mouthed a silent thank you. She returned the smile, winking, and gestured at me to get some sleep.

I laid down on my bedroll but didn't sleep immediately. I waited until I the sounds of students moving about had stopped. Then I waited a little bit more, just to be sure they were asleep. Then I rolled over to where Olive was still cocooned inside her own wings.  
"Olive" I whispered urgently, "Hey are you still awake?" There was no response beyond a slight ruffling of her wings. It could have been deliberate or she could have actually been asleep, it was impossible to tell just by looking. "Olive?" I asked again, starting to feel uncertain. I wondered whether she had decided I was as bad as the others and was ignoring me now.  
"I'm awake" she said quietly, her wings unfurling as she rolled over to face me. She fixed me intently with her Emerald green eyes and I was suddenly reluctant to speak.  
"Olive umm . . . listen. I'm sorry about that whole scene when we came in. I could see you were upset by the way they were treating you but I couldn't get them to leave me alone! I tried to tell them you three had just as much to do with it as me."  
 _ **Which**_ I thought angrily, _**any fool watching the video feed should have been able to see! It's not like I could have flown**_ **myself** _ **in there!**_

Olive was quiet, her wings rustling again, and for a moment I thought she would turn her back on me. But eventually a small smile touched her lips.  
"I know you did Misty," she said finally. "I mean, it's not as if you were hiding your embarrassment very well. You were blushing so hard I couldn't tell where your hair ended and your face began." I tried to look affronted but ended up giggling anyway.  
"So is this what our friendship is going to be?" I asked sarcastically, "me being embarrassed and you constantly making jokes about my hair? I'm not the only girl in the world with pink hair you know?"  
She chuckled quietly, "I know."  
"I hope Frost and Draed know" I admitted, rolling onto my back to stare up at the ceiling. "I didn't get the chance to apologise to them with that crowd herding me along."  
"We'll talk to them at breakfast tomorrow" Olive said, "I'm sure they do."

Olive was right. When she and I entered the mess that morning for breakfast we found Ash and Cairan sitting alone at the end of one of the tables. I wondered if yesterday had helped them get over their issues with one another. They weren't trying to kill each other at least. Mind you, it wasn't as if they had much choice in sitting together. Nobody else seemed willing to make room for them, the width of three people between them and the nearest human occupants. Annoyed again I marched over with my tray of food and made a big show of dropping down right next to Ash, glaring around at anyone who looked sideways at us. Olive slid into the spot next to Cairan with considerably more grace.  
"You know you won't make many friends associating with us" Cairan said quietly between sips of what I assumed was tea, judging by its colour. The statement brought my attention back to him. I hesitated for a moment then rushed out everything that I had planned to say, desperate not to have him give me that cold stare that made me think that I had better watch out for a bullet in my back.  
"Listen guys about last night. I didn't want any of that attention and I was actually really angry that they were all ignoring you. I'm not like most of the kids here and I think if anything you should have gotten more credit than me I mean it wasn't even my plan and I really couldn't have rescued the lieutenant all by myself." I said it all in one breath. Cairan took another sip of tea, still impassive. Ash looked like he was trying not to laugh though.

"Don't be stupid Thulia" Cairan said finally.  
"What?" I said dumbly, thrown.  
"I fully expected that response when we returned. Humans are selfish bigots by nature. No offense" he added unconvincingly, setting down his mug and cutting a piece of sausage. He chewed slowly and swallowed before continuing, "It's not your fault you were born one."  
"Umm thanks?" I said, not sure whether to be relieved or offended.  
"Besides" he went on after swallowing a mouthful of hash brown, "anyone with half a brain could tell you didn't want that attention." Ash finally let the laugh he had been holding burst out, several students down the table turned to stare but he ignored them. Still laughing he clapped me on the shoulder.  
"Yeah Shrimp" he said. "I could smell your embarrassment so strong I thought you might run out of the hall."  
"True" Cairan agreed, "You did look exceptionally uncomfortable and they clearly didn't care. It actually makes me wonder if they gave you all that attention just to belittle us." I didn't have a response to that. I hadn't considered that they might just be using me to piss them off. But really that just made it worse.

"Anyway, if anyone should have been embarrassed by their performance last night it's Draed." Ash's smile vanished instantly. His one red eye swivelled back to stare at Cairan.  
"What are you sayin'?" he demanded.  
"Nothing" Cairan responded, taking up his mug again. "Just that, at least Miss Thulia did something to help the lieutenant. Your involvement seemed to be limited to relieving yourself against a tree whilst you waited for the ladies to do all the work." Olive tried to stifle a giggle as she reached for the salt shaker. Cairan's voice was casual, but as he took another sip of his tea his eyes were fixed on Ash, waiting for a reaction. It was clear he was goading the guy, and it was working. Ash rose slightly out of his seat as he lurched forward to grab a fistful of Ciaran's jacket and sending his mug clattering to the floor.  
"Now listen you sarcastic little hairball spitter" he growled, so low that only the three of us could hear him, "you didn't do anything either so either quit with the dog jokes or I'll kick your ass here and now, because you are pissing me off!"  
"In a fair fight I could take you apart in less than a minute" Cairan said, apparently unphased by his sudden proximity to Ash's bared teeth.  
"Ash" I groaned desperately, "everyone's staring!" Ash suddenly seemed to remember that he was in a room full of people and let go of Cairan's jacket.  
"Fine" he grunted at me. I let out a sigh of relief.  
 _ **Situation defused.**_

"Down boy", the muttered insult was so quiet that I barely heard it but Ash reacted as though he'd been slapped in the face.  
"THAT'S IT!" He was on the table in less than a second, and pounced on Cairan. With true feline reflexes Cairan dived aside, rolled and came up standing his hand reaching toward his belt for his weapon. I opened my mouth to beg them to calm down but before I could even get a syllable out Cairan staggered forward as lieutenant Hawk clouted him hard around the back of his head. He stumbled forwards and turned, his ears flattened close to his head in anger. He straightened abruptly when he saw who it was.  
"Lieutenant Hawk ma'am" he said, seeming to resist the impulse to salute. His tone wasn't hostile but I could see that look in his eyes. The same look of distrust he had given me on the first day. He may treat her as an officer and teacher but she was still human and he clearly didn't like her. She seemed to notice too and glared back but she didn't say anything. Instead she shifted her glare from him to Ash.  
"Both of you need to stow that behaviour until tomorrow's one on one tournament. Then you can beat on each other until you're _both_ in the infirmary. For now though behave like civilised individuals."  
"Ma'am" Cairan answered sharply, his eyes fixed on me directly in front of him rather than looking at her.  
"I hope you understand Frost, I'm sure your mother would love to know that you received a reprimand on your second day." I wondered how formidable a woman Cairan's mother was that Lieutenant Hawk's threat actually made him go even paler.

"As for you, Draed", her eyes snapped to where ash was in a half crouch as though preparing to spring at Cairan whilst he wasn't looking. "If you cannot control your temper then you will need to seek your education elsewhere." Ash straightened out of his crouch standing to face Hawk directly, shoulders squared, as though preparing to fight her now. Lieutenant Hawk's eyes flashed behind her spectacles. She kept her hands in the small of her back but as she spoke she leaned forward until she was nearly nose to nose with Ash, daring him to do something violent. My stomach was turning over and over. The tension in our corner of the room was palpable. "Atlas academy will not tolerate its students attacking each other outside of officially sanctioned matches or combat training" Hawk warned "no matter the level of provocation" she added quietly, before Ash could begin the tirade he looked as though he had been winding up to deliver. He glared daggers at her but didn't say anything, his posture loosening as he stepped away from the lieutenant and sniffed loudly, giving Cairan a look as if fighting him suddenly wasn't worth his time. "Good" Hawk said, straightening her back. "Remember if you have any problems with other students _come and consult me_ in confidence and we will do what we can to resolve the problem. Otherwise, _keep your claws, in_!" she said with finality. She waited for another moment to check that neither of them did anything stupid, then she spun on her heel and marched off toward another group of students across the hall. I let out the breath I'd been holding since she'd hit Cairan. As I watched her walk away I wondered if she had meant the "claws" thing as a dig at them for being Faunus. I didn't think so. Lieutenant hawk seemed to be too empathetic to say something like that thoughtlessly.

Ash and Cairan didn't speak to each other as we all made our way to lecture hall Vermillion, where the projectors had been set up to show the feed from the Atlas drones observing the exercise. Olive was quiet too but I think that was because, like me, she seemed to be watching the boys closely in case they tried to kill each other in the corridor. When we entered the lecture hall we sat in the last four seats of the back row, Ash at one end, me and Olive in the middle, Cairan at the other end. It wasn't until the exercise was well underway that I finally relaxed. After about ten minutes Ash had pulled the hood of his cloak low over his face, planted his boots on the back of the chair in front and begun to snore loudly. On my left, the other side of Olive, Cairan sat quietly for a few minutes watching the screen before producing a small notepad from inside his coat and beginning to take notes. Occasionally he would glance across at the snoring Ash with a look of disdain before returning his eyes to the screen. The fourth time he did this he caught me looking.

"Problem?" he asked. I jumped slightly. My eyes had been on him but I had actually been daydreaming a little.  
"Uh, no sorry" I quickly looked back at the screen. Then I looked back at him curiously. "What are you taking notes on?" I asked, "We've already completed the exercise and more besides." He looked back at his notepad as he answered.  
"I'm taking notes on the other students."  
"Why?"  
"Because at some point I will likely have to fight them" he answered bluntly.  
I was shocked. "Do you honestly expect the other students to attack you?"  
"As we have a tournament to participate in tomorrow, yes."  
"Oh, right" I said lamely, feeling dumb. I felt like even more of a slacker when I noticed Olive nodding in agreement. I glanced down to see she her scroll open in her lap, a notepad program open, taking her own notes.  
"I might not have any information on our group, but information is the deadliest weapon. Any knowledge I can gain about an individual's abilities may help later." He glanced up at the screen again, and then pointed. "Take her for example."

I followed his finger to where one of the picture-in-picture images showed a shorter girl with white hair, denim jacket, black shorts, tights and boots was fighting a flock of at least five Griffons. I watched as she dispatched the two on the ground with lightning fast strikes from her twin Katanas. Then she gave a quick flick of her wrist and two more Griffons dropped from the sky, one dead the other struggling to rise. The Katana in her left hand transformed into a pistol and she shot it through the eye. The final Griffon leapt at her back and for a moment I was sure she was done for. Then she whirled in the snow like a ballerina, turning to face the creature as she dropped low. The pistol in her other hand transformed and she fired two shots that blew the Grimm's head apart. There was a moment of calm then she looked up directly into the camera and a shiver went down my spine as I saw deeply shadowed, violently orange, eyes and a psychotic grin below a long, thin scar running from just above her left eyebrow to the middle of her right cheek. She sheathed her weapons, now back in blade form, gave a mock curtsy then spun about and dashed off into the trees, leaning down to yank something from two of the fallen Grimm as she passed without slowing. A boy who had been wholly uninvolved in the fight, probably her partner, went chasing after her and the camera cut to a different pair of students.

"That girl enjoys killing" I jumped and looked to my right. Ash, apparently not asleep after all, was sitting up straight in his seat and leaning forward with a dark expression on his face, almost unperceivable in the dimness of the lecture hall.  
"What?" I asked weakly, a nervous chuckle in my voice, hoping he was joking.  
But his voice was deadly serious as he said, "You can see it in their eyes, in their smile. A normal person doesn't smile when they kill. But her?" He paused. His eyes hadn't left the screen, as though he were still staring at her image on it. "She's killed before, and she's loved every second of it." I got the feeling that Cairan had wanted to say something about her abilities rather than her psychosis but he seemed to have been rendered silent by Ash's menacing statement. I wouldn't have been able to listen anyway. I was too busy feeling sick. We passed the rest of the viewing session in silence. Olive, Cairan, even Ash were all gazing intently at the screen now. I found my attention wandering, as it usually did when I was bored. I was mainly trying to think of something to say. Ash's comment had put everyone on edge and I wanted to say something to break the tension. When I couldn't come up with anything that didn't sound weird or awkward I gave up and just watched as the students of group B completed their task and returned to the dropship.

By the time dinner rolled back around the others seemed to be unwinding whilst _I_ was starting to get more anxious. It wasn't helped much by my newfound popularity either. As I entered the canteen for dinner one of the girls from group B called out to me.  
"Hey Misty come sit with us! My friend and I want to know what Vacuo is like!" I managed to fight back the frown that had tried to appear on my face. She had been one of the girls who had spoken only to me and acted like Olive, Ash and Cairan hadn't existed. I glanced at the three of them as we reached the hot food counter and began loading up our trays, wondering if Olive would get upset if I ran off to talk to the other girls.  
"Go on" she said when she caught my conflicted look. "Like Carian said, if you only hang around with us you'll never make any other friends here." Thinking that more friends could only be a good thing, and wanting to talk to help ease the knot of tension in my stomach, I nodded gratefully and moved toward their table.

"Hi there" I said cheerfully as I reached them and the girl who had called me over scooted sideways so that I could slide in next to her. I looked around the table. Most of them were indeed people from the group who had approached me the night before but I noticed with a chill that the girl with the white pigtails and orange eyes, the one Ash had said enjoyed killing, was also there; staring at me. It was unnerving but I kept my smile fixed firmly in place as I said, "it's great to meet all of you."  
"I'm sure it is" said the girl who had invited me over, imperiously. She had long, red hair pulled back in a tight high ponytail that still managed to reach the middle of her back and large brown eyes that reminded me of the chocolate eggs my mum used to make for the New Year's celebrations back home in Vacuo. "My name is-"  
"You too" the girl to my right burst out suddenly, apparently unable to contain herself, "we all watched you yesterday and I thought you were super brave to go and fight bandits to save someone you hadn't even known a day."  
"Well I didn't actually _fight_ any of them" I reminded her, "And I had help from my partner and my other new friends." I made a point of gesturing back to where Olive, Ash and Cairan had just seated themselves alone at the end of a table . . . again. To my surprise she nodded vigorously, her curly teal twin tails bouncing like springs.  
"Oh totally!" She agreed, talking so fast, so excitedly, that I could barely keep up. "I loved the way Valerian carried you up above them and dropped you down like a secret agent or something! She must be super strong to carry both of you. And your semblance is so cool, how you managed to look like one of the bandits and blend right in! How many people can you look like? Is it just people you've seen or-"

She was cut off by a loud, obviously fake, cough from the red head. She shut up instantly, turning pale at the withering look she was receiving. The other girls around the table giggled. Once she had everyone's attention again she flicked the end of her ponytail off her shoulder and straightened her back, obviously used to being the centre of attention.  
"As I was saying, _my_ name is Falu Falkenrath. I'm the one person you _need_ to know. Little miss chatterbox over there is Parraya Smaragdina, this is . . ." She went on to name the rest of the girls at the table, six or seven in all. I forgot most of their names straight away, except the girl with the orange eyes. Her name was Mithra.  
"So anyway" Falu went on, "what's Vacuo like? Most of us are from Atlas so we've never been outside the kingdom. Is it true that it's never cold there and guys walk around topless like all the time?"  
"Umm," I really hoped it wasn't just going to be them asking me about Vacuo stereotypes. "I don't know about guys being topless but a lot of people do dress in light clothing. Most of Vacuo is in the desert so it's hot a lot of the time but there are places that get snow in winter; mostly the villages and settlements outside the kingdom."

One of girls whose name I'd already forgotten piped up "I heard that you all carry weapons from the age of five because even the animals that aren't Grimm want to kill you!"  
"That's not true" I said, keeping my tone light but beginning to get a little frustrated. "I mean I learned to defend myself when I was five but that's because my daddy was a ranch owner and my uncle was a Drover. Sure there are dangerous animals in Vacuo but nothing that will kill you as long as you are careful. The Grimm is still the biggest threat to people in Vacuo just like anywhere else."  
"What's a Drover?" asked Parraya. I turned to her, relived to answer the first question that hadn't been about a stereotype.  
"A drover is someone who moves livestock over long distances. They deliver them to the different stations around the kingdom or to market or places like that. My uncle said his daddy used to do it on horseback now they mostly use trucks and stuff though."  
"Oh that's cool" Parraya said, wide eyed as though being a Drover sounded better than being a huntress. "So did you know how to ride a horse? I've never seen one. Apparently they're only found on Sanus."  
"Yeah, I think that's true" I said. "I never saw one whilst I was in Mistral and I haven't seen _anything_ besides house pets since I came to Atlas."  
"So you've been all over huh?" asked Parraya.  
"Yeah I used to live in Vacuo until I was about eight. Since then my mum and I have moved around every couple of years with her job. I think I've spent at least a year in every kingdom of remnant, except Menagerie."  
"Wow really? What's it like in-"

"PARRAYA" the bark from Falu cut of her next question. We both whipped around to see her face livid with fury. Then suddenly she was composed again. Smiling sweetly at Parraya she said, "Could you go and get me another glass of water please? All this talking about work is making me thirsty." She held out a glass under my nose for Parraya to take. Parraya though looked as if she wanted to say something rude to Falu. "Remember our talk on the way here honey? _Now_ please," The way she said "now" sounded less like a request and more like a command. Parraya seemed to take it as one because she turned pale, snatched the glass and rushed off toward the counter with the drinks. "Sorry about her. She's always been ditzy and annoying" she said with an exaggerated, long suffering sigh. "We were at our last school together, and now I'm stuck with her as a partner. Just my luck," she took a dainty bite out of her quiche. "You'll learn to tune her out eventually" she assured me as though I should be relived at the news. I actually frowned now. I was starting to really not like Falu Falkenrath.  
"I like her" I said, feeling as though I needed to stick up for Parraya.  
"Do you?" she drawled, sounding both surprised and a little disgusted, looking around the other girls at the table meaningfully.

"You have . . . interesting taste in friends. Is that a Vacuo thing too?"  
"Excuse me?"  
"Well it's just that Vacuo's a little. . ." she paused as though searching for the right word, "wild. I mean you even have Faunus teachers at Shade Academy don't you?"  
"I wouldn't know. I'm here and not at Shade. Anyway so what if we do? You have a problem with Faunus?" I asked, as Parraya came running back to the table with a full glass of water. Falu didn't even acknowledge her.  
"No, no. Not as such" she said, not even trying to sound convincing. "I just thought someone like you would have wanted to get _out_ of the petting zoo once you left Vacuo. I know I wouldn't want to have to keep one eye on my Lien 24-7."  
On my left Parraya had the decency to look horrified by Falu's comment, but the other girls around the table, snickered derisively. I shot to my feet, unable to stomach her backhanded racism anymore.  
"There's a saying in Vacuo" I told Fula. "If you can survive here, then you are welcome here." Falu looked completely nonplussed.  
"It means" I said, adopting the same condescending tone she had used earlier, "that people in Vacuo have a mutual respect for one another, regardless of background. We can tell what kind of person someone is whether or not they have horns or wings or a tail. And I get the feeling that _you_ are a bitch."

Falu's minions around the table gasped in horror. I looked around at Parraya, who was pale but smiling slightly at me. When I looked around I saw that Mithra was too. It wasn't the psychotic smile she'd had during the exercise but it was still creepy. Falu, on the other hand, was white with fury but she kept her voice controlled when she spoke.  
"I'd be careful if I were you Thulia. Mantle is a dangerous continent, perhaps more so than Vacuo. The people here don't take kindly to disrespect. Any number of _accidents_ could happen to a non-native."  
"Thanks for the tip" I grunted, not in the least concerned by her thinly veiled threat, turning to go. I paused glancing down at Parraya.  
"You wanna come?" I asked her.  
She seemed surprised, "really?"  
I smiled at her, "sure"  
"Little P isn't going anywhere!" Falu remarked, loudly. "She and I have some things we need to _talk_ about." I looked back at Parraya anxiously. She'd gone pale again and I was suddenly worried about leaving her with Falu. She was cutting her eyes between me and the red headed monster as though wanting to flee but too paralysed with fear to move.  
"It's okay" she said finally, as though someone had a gun to her head and was forcing her to read from a script. "You go, thanks for the offer though."  
"Okay" I answered uncertainly, "but I'll be right over there" I assured her. She nodded, then made eye contact with Falu, blanched again and bent her face low over her soup.

"Your fans wear you out already shrimp?" Ash teased as I slumped down at the table next to him. I was in no mood to be teased. I didn't have the patience left.  
"Shut up Ash" I growled angrily, reaching for my drink only to realise that I'd left my tray of food back at the bitchy table. I had no desire to go back for it.  
"Hmmph" Ash grunted but didn't say anything else. I think he'd been hoping I'd get embarrassed and my grumpy response was less than satisfactory.  
"What did they ask you?" Olive wondered, looking over the top of yet another book at me.  
"Well they _said_ they wanted to know about Vacuo but really they just started bombarding me with stereotypes. Then they got bitchy when I didn't join in on their racist jokes about Faunus. Oh and Falu basically threatened to have me killed when I called her a bitch to her face." I added.  
"Who?" Cairan asked.  
"Falu Falkenrath." I sighed, "The redhead who invited me over to the table."  
"I'd have punched her in the teeth if she'd threatened me" Ash said, glancing over his shoulder at the table as though he might go over there and do it. "Humans are always high and mighty until you show you're going to hit back. Then they turn into complete wimps"  
"Just as well it wasn't you over there then" I said.

"I warned you that being seen to be with us would cause you problems" Cairan remarked blandly.  
"Yeah instead you now have six new enemies" Ash observed, "should make for at least a couple of interesting fights tomorrow." I really hoped he didn't _intend_ to sound as though he was hoping to watch me get pounded into the dirt.  
"Actually, I think it's only four" I remembered, "Parraya seemed to like me okay."  
"Was she the green haired one who ran past our table looking like she was being chased by an enraged Deathstalker?" asked Cairan "It looked like you tried to invite her over here when you left the table." I nodded.  
"But she stayed over there" Olive pointed out.  
"Yeah, poor girl" I said, sadly. "Falu must be pretty powerful. She mentioned that they'd _talked_ about something and Parayya went whiter than the snow." We sat in silence for a few minutes, me with my elbows rested on the table fiddling with a strand of my hair as I thought, the others finishing their dinner. I had woken up that morning anxious. That night I went to bed looking forward to the tournament. I was looking forward to the opportunity to kick Falu Falkenrath's ass.

"Morning" Olive said glumly as I slid onto the seat next to her at breakfast on our third morning.  
"Ouch" I said, giving a mock wince. "Sleep that badly huh?"  
"No I slept fine" Olive said, "I just wish we didn't have to do this?"  
"What, eat breakfast?" I asked jokingly. I knew what she meant but I wanted to lighten the mood.  
"No silly" she said, her tone a little less depressed. "I mean this whole tournament thing. I don't understand why we need it."  
"Well if we graduate we'll spend the rest of our careers fighting right?" I asked.  
"Yes" she admitted. "But fighting Grimm, not other people. We could have started classes by now, instead we're wasting time with a tournament on the third day." I had to admit that I wasn't much looking forward to the long day of fighting ahead but for totally different reasons.

After breakfast we were led a different route from the previous two. We left the cafeteria and headed along a corridor that ran along the entire length of the academy. Each time we approached a door I expected to see students from our group filing inside but we just kept walking. Students from higher years were entering and leaving rooms along the corridor, rushing to and from various classes. Some stopped to stare curiously at us, some of them stepped around us and carried on looking at notes or talking to each other as though we weren't even there. One or two of them, the oldest ones it looked like, stopped to offer a salute to Colonel Ironwood and the other members of staff as they passed. Cairan said they had chosen to join the military on graduation which meant they were taking officers training as an elective and were already expected to behave as if they were full members of the army.

After what felt like an age of walking we finally passed through a set of large double doors into an enormous chamber with a high glass dome, through which gently falling snow and a bright blue, cloud spotted sky could be seen. Around the edges of the room were rows and rows of seats protected in front by a low screen with tall upright poles at regular intervals. I had watched the Vytal festival a couple of times over the years so I knew that an energy barrier would be generated by the poles to protect the people watching during matches. I also knew that it wouldn't stop me from flinching if something came hurtling toward my face during a match. The students split off to the left and right filling up the seating, spreading out around the room. But even with everyone there, they still took up only a quarter of the seats. I guessed that the room was designed to seat every student at Atlas Academy when an event took place, and then some more besides. Olive was beside me as we sat in the third row, just a little to the left of the entrance. Out of habit I looked around the room for anyone I recognised. I quickly spotted Parraya and (uuggh) Falu sitting on the opposite side of the arena in the front row. I gave Parraya a wave. She glanced quickly at Falu. When she saw that her partner was distracted, talking to one of her minions, she waved cheerfully back at me. Ash and Cairan were off to our left, all the way in the back row, separated from each other by at least four other students. And I spotted the creepy white haired girl Mithra sitting directly in front of me in the first row. I only knew it was her because of the distinctive black edged red ribbons she used to tie her pigtails back . . . and the two sheathed Katana on her back.

Silence fell as Ironwood strode into the centre of the arena, to the spot were a mic stand rose out of the floor. He greeted all the students with the same casual friendliness and half smile he had used the other times he had greeted us. It was a bit at odds with his perfectly pressed officer's uniform and the steel plate in his head, visible above his right eyebrow, which spoke of a hard life as a military man and a Huntsman. But to be honest I was okay with it. It was good to know that, despite Atlas' reputation, the teachers were still just people. He didn't stay long. Just long enough to explain the event and how the bracket system would operate. Student pairs from group A would face those from group B then after several rounds the surviving pairs would select one of them to participate in a 1v1 match. They would then progress through the final bracket until an overall winner was determined. The winner would receive a grand prize of 10,000 Lien and the trophy Ironwood brought with him that was almost as big as I was! It all seemed a bit much for the third day at school. When he was finished he turned about and marched back out of the arena, the mic disappearing back into the floor. A large projector screen lit up above the arena, displaying rapidly revolving images of student's faces.  
"Of course that's not all the winner gets" Olive muttered in my ear. I glanced over at her but she still had her eyes fixed firmly on the revolving images.  
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.  
"I mean that whoever wins pretty much attains star student status instantly. They get all sorts of special attention and a whole bunch of opportunities after graduation!" she said, turning away from the screen to explain to me. I continued to gaze at her sceptically. She turned a little pink and fixed her eyes back on the revolving images, which had almost slowed to a stop now. "At least that's what I heard some of the other students say" she muttered.

A round of applause broke out. The images had stopped revolving.  
"Round one" came Ironwood's voice, broadcast over a loudspeaker from his position at the centre of the top box with the other faculty, "Terrian Forge and Grant Coal vs Falu Falkenrath and Parraya Smaragdina. Would you please step into the arena?" Falu rose immediately to her feet and began herding a terrified looking Parraya ahead of her. Across at the other entrance a short dark-skinned guy in a fedora and a guy who was so tall and muscular he looked as though he were part man part brick wall entered the arena. The two teams took up their places twenty paces apart and produced their weapons. Falu reached down to her waist and drew from the pouch in her pocket what looked like a pair of red leather gloves which she pulled on calmly and stood with her hands held loosely at her sides.  
 _ **What the hell?**_ I wondered. _**Does she intend to fight them bare handed. Is she a brawler of some type?**_ Next to me Olive leaned forward, gazing at a close-up image of Falu being shown on screen. She was clearly even more interested in the gloves that I was. Parraya actually drew a weapon I recognised: A straight sword and a round shield that expanded out from what I had thought was a hip flask, or something similar, that I had seen at her waist the night before. I looked at their opponents. The big guy, Forge, had produced an enormous two handed battle-axe that he was resting casually across his shoulder and that _I_ was sincerely glad I didn't have to face. The other guy, Coal, was standing next to him looking completely at ease and holding what was unmistakably a Saxophone! I had no idea if he intended to fight or play a jazzy solo number.

"Combatants ready?" Asked Ironwood's magnified voice. Falu raised her hand to signal that they were ready. Across from her Forge did the same before dropping into a battle ready stance himself. A claxon sounded and hell broke loose in a blast of fire and sound.


End file.
